Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University

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The Bach Society Orchestra, known as BachSoc, is Harvard University's premier chamber orchestra. The orchestra is staffed, managed, and conducted entirely by students. Each year, the members of the orchestra select the next year's conductor, always an undergraduate. In turn, at the beginning of the new year the inaugurated conductor auditions new and returning members of the orchestra.

BachSoc generally performs four times per year, with concerts featuring works for chamber orchestra – interpreted broadly to include intimate chamber pieces as well as mid-sized symphonies – taken from an eclectic set of historical periods. Works featured in recent seasons have included Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 6 and 7, Barber's Adagio for Strings, Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (narrated by the Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes), and Villa-Lobos' Sinfonietta No. 1.

The Bach Society Orchestra has been an official undergraduate organization of the university since the 1954–55 academic school year. At its founding, the orchestra loosely devoted itself to performing the music of J.S. Bach. Since then, the repertoire has grown to span the historical continuum from baroque to the contemporary. The orchestra's annual composition and concerto competitions have become respected institutions of the Harvard music scene. Alumni include cellist Yo-Yo Ma, composers John Adams and John Harbison, conductors Joel Lazar, Andrew Schenck, Alan Gilbert, Isaiah Jackson, Christopher Wilkins, Hugh Wolff, Samuel Wong, and Edwin Outwater, and members of top American symphony orchestras.

An excerpt from History of Music at Harvard to 1972 by Elliott Forbes (Harvard UP: 1988) describes the beginnings of BachSoc:

The 'Musical Club of Harvard University,' as it was called upon its founding in 1898, took on new life after World War II. The idea of a chamber orchestra was broached for the first time in 1947. Then in 1951 an organizational meeting of the Harvard Music Club was called to discuss the forming of a chamber chorus and orchestra. The next year a catalogue was compiled of all Harvard and Radcliffe musicians, and finally in the academic year 1954-55 were founded the Bach Society Chorus, Howard M. Brown '51, conductor, and the Bach Society Orchestra, Michael L. Greenebaum '55, conductor.

The chorus was soon disbanded, but the Bach Society Orchestra has continued to flourish. Greenebaum continued as conductor for a second year, then as a graduate student. Starting with his successor Michael Senturia '58, who led the orchestra from 1956 to 1958, the conductor has always been an undergraduate, chosen either by an independent jury or by the orchestra members acting as a collective jury.

Music Directors

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Year Music Director
1955 Michael Greenebaum
1956 Michael Greenebaum
1957 Michael Senturia
1958 Michael Senturia
1959 John Harbison
1960 John Harbison
1961 Joel Lazar
1962 Andrew Schenck
1963 Bentley Layton
1964 Gregory Biss
1965 Isaiah Jackson III
1966 Daniel Hathaway
1967 John C. Adams
1968 John C. Adams
1969 Philip Kelsey
1970 Martin Kessler
1971 Nils Vigeland
1972 Robert Hart Baker
1973 Robert Hart Baker
1974 Hugh Wolff
1975 Neal Stulberg
1976 Christopher Wilkins
1977 Christopher Wilkins
1978 Peter Lurye
1979 Richard Green, James Ross
1980 James Ross
1981 Diana Watt
1982 Samuel Wong
1983 Scott Kluksdahl
1984 Scott Kluksdahl
1985 Jeffrey Goldberg
1986 Scott Gregg
1987 Scott Gregg
1988 Alan Gilbert
1989 James Kwak
1990 Edwin Outwater
1991 Edwin Outwater
1992 Evan Christ
1993 Evan Young
1994 Steve Huang
1995 Jonathan Yates
1996 Jonathan Yates
1997 Eric Tipler
1998 Eric Tipler
1999 Benjamin Rous
2000 Grace Kao
2001 Lembit Beecher
2002 Sean Henry Ryan
2003 Alexander Misono
2004 Alexander Brash
2005 Daniel Chetel
2006 Aram Demirjian
2007 Aram Demirjian
2008 John Sullivan
2009 Yuga Cohler
2010 Yuga Cohler
2011 Jesse Wong[1]
2012 Lucien Werner[2]
2013
2014 Sasha Scolnik-Brower
2015 Sasha Scolnik-Brower
2016 Sasha Scolnik-Brower
2017 Reuben Stern
2018 Reuben Stern
2019 Reuben Stern
2020 Soren Nyhus
2021 Soren Nyhus
2022 Camden Archambeau
2023 Lucas Amory
2024 Enoch Li

References

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  1. ^ "Paine's Performance Potential Restored | Arts | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
  2. ^ "Portrait of an Artist: Lucien D. Werner | Arts | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
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