The inaugural Steinitz Bach Prize for solo strings took place on Monday 11 May in the Weston Gallery at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD).
This new solo Bach prize for strings is open to students studying in either the String Department or Department of Historical Performance at RWCMD and is being supported for three years jointly by Margaret Steinitz and the London Bach Society in respect of Paul Steinitz's centenary later this year.

The joint winners are Jennifer MacCallum viola- and Sabine Stoffer violin who will each receive their Prize at the RWCMD Graduation Day celebrations on Friday 3 July in St. David's Hall, Cardiff. Many congratulations and best wishes to them both and our thanks and best wishes to all the other entrants for taking part and offering such a feast of Bach's solo repertoire. Jennifer is currently studying in the String Department and Sabine a student at the Department of Historical Performance. There will be a further report in Bach Notes, the LBS Journal to be published in September.

The Panel was Peter Esswood, Head of Strings and Dr. John Cranmer, Head of the Undergraduate Course and the next competition will take place in 2010.

SBP at LBS Benefit

It isn't everyday that we get to do something different with Bach, honour an inspirational film-maker and benefit ourselves all at the same time! But then not everyone has the entrepreneurial flair of LBS President Sir David Tang (pictured right) either. With benefit evenings two-a-penny, what to do that is just a little bit (or even a big bit) different from the usual mix - concert, musicians giving their services, followed by posh nosh, the odd glass or two, all in the hope that this familiar cocktail will be sufficient to inspire a big donation - takes some thinking about.

For ours last December, David brought us all together - SBP musicians, director Tom Edmunds, his company of actors and in a St. Martin-in-the-Fields 'freshly made' by its refurbishment - to re-imagine a play with a contemporary theme inspired by Bach. Anthony Minghella's death in March 2008 shocked the film world and Bach lost a devoted admirer and follower. Minghella wrote "Cigarettes and chocolate" (1988), an award-winning one act play that has the St. Matthew Passion as its musical inspiration. The theme is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it - Gemma (Alice Patten) has given up speaking for Lent. She sits in her flat and listens to Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Her decision provokes consternation from her friends, each imagining it is the result of something one of them has done. How they react and respond, sometimes wittily, sometimes poignantly, is central to the play. Our role, directed by Anthony Robson, was to perform movements from the Passion in the gallery - very Bachian this! We were completely 'at home' yet still part of something new for us.

A warm atmosphere greeted guests and David's colourful mix of distinguished specials who joined us mingled informally with the audience assembling. As Compère, David thanked our generous donors including Aspinalls and Dame Vivien Duffield, then introduced the actor Jude Law, who delivered a most moving tribute to his friend Minghella. It was lovely that Carolyn and the family could be with us too. The lights then dimmed; conversation hushed; the play unfolded. There was rapt attention for both dialogue and music: long moving speeches interspersed with favourite arias for solo violin and gamba among others. Received with generous applause and a succession of enthusiastic curtain calls, our guests then moved to a candlelit Crypt for dinner and we packed up all our gear before joining them. It had been a long, wonderful day...and so well-worth it! Thank you David. MS
(Photo credit Alan Davidson: pictured l to r The Duchess of York, Sir Michael Caine, Carolyn Minghella, Jude Law and Sir David Tang. Among the guests were Lady (Lucy) Tang, Lady (Shakira) Caine, Dame Vivien Duffield, Sir Ronald Grierson, The Hon Tessa Keswick and Sir Mark Weinberg).
The proceeds of the evening will benefit the London Bach Society

I've just returned from a visit to the Leipzig Bachfest (7-17 June). As usual there is lots to hear, to see and changes to note. The city is currently a mish-mash of architectural styles, an uneasy mix of the old, Stalinist and faceless and the very latest in chic and style. In amongst all of this are the sites we associate with Bach's lifetime, tall, solid and dependable - the Nikolaikirche in Nikolaistrasse just off the shopping arcades in the Grimmastrasse and the Thomaskirche in Thomaskirchhof off the Markt Platz and near to the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall). There is a profusion of cafés and eating places all around, to such an extent now that some of the famous monuments could go completely unnoticed - Goethe now has to look down upon a column of outdoor cafés for example and unless you know where to look, could be completely missed by the culture-vulture doing the grand tour of the city centre! Stark contrast indeed to the days of the old GDR.

However the city is not so much a building site for the sake of it, but more of one that is saying to the world "we are looking forward, inspired and encouraged by our cultural heritage". How this will all pan out remains to be seen. Only when the generations born after the fall of the GDR in 1989, or with no recollection of what life was like during those years, will the true character of the city emerge.

After 'the change' the citizens of Leipzig were consulted as to how they wanted their city to be repaired, rebuilt and represented. The 'Paulinerverein' was set up to ensure that the city wrote into its plans the restoration of the famous Leipzig University Church that was razed to the ground by the authorities in 1968 to make way for a new science block. After much lobbying and fund-raising to garner support for the idea, eventually the Saxony State Government in Dresden granted the funds to rebuild with the aim of completion by 2009, the 600th anniversary of the University's foundation. Unalloyed joy soon turned to deep despair when descent emerged and the plan was dropped....I believe a church will be built, but not a recreation of the original historic Paulinerkirche, where Bach's Cantata BWV 198 (Trauerode) was first performed in October 1727, and where Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn all conducted. Is this an example of any conflict of opinion that exists as to how the future should be shaped, I wonder?
MS

For ten days from tomorrow, the city of Leipzig will be buzzing with activity. The cafés will be full, flowers blooming and Festival bunting everywhere. It is the time of the Leipzig Bachfest. From 7-17 June there will be another feast of events this time around the theme 'From Monteverdi to Bach' and I will be attending the Festival from 13-17 June. The series not only includes some mouth-watering concerts and recitals, but brings together a variety of personalities from the Bach world globally. So it is time to re-kindle old friendships and for me, catch up with what's happening so that I can bring some of what I find back to London and to our Bachfest.

LBS first visited Bach's city of Leipzig in 1964, and a far-cry from the bustling, modern cultural centre of the post-communist era. LBS was the first cultural organisation to 'cross the Berlin Wall' and then made a return visit in 1983 for a British Council supported tour as part of the Martin Luther Year celebrations, with a Mass in B minor in Thomaskirche the highlight. Paul conducted our original choir and our existing orchestra, Steinitz Bach Players, in complete awe of the surroundings and greatly moved by the attentive audience, among whom (and unknown to us at the time) was a young music student destined later to become Thomaskantor and one of my kindred musical friends, Prof. Georg Christoph Biller.

In 1994, LBS hosted the first ever visit to the UK by the world-famous Thomanerchor Leipzig, directed by Prof. Biller. Bach held the post of Thomaskantor from 1723-1750 and composed most of his church music for the set of possibly unruly boys he had in his choir. Years later, we in LBS can testify to the professionalism of today's choir of 9-18 year old singers who joined us in London last November for our 60th anniversary celebrations.

All the famous locations associated with Bach are close by and will be the main venues used for the 2007 Leipzig Bachfest. With the festival series moved to the early summer month of June, there is an opportunity to see and enjoy them in warm sunshine - the last time I saw BBC weather for Leipzig the temps were approaching the 90 degree mark! There is a real sens of the Bach presence in the Thomaskirche where his remains are buried in the Chancel.

A few minutes' walk away there is also the historic Nikolaikirche where Bach's Johannes-Passion was first performed in 1724. I immediately recall that years later in 1989, the Nikolaikirche was a sanctuary where modern-day revolutionaries met to plan the eventual downfall of the distasteful communist regime in East Germany (DDR). What has arisen from that era is a city reborn, drawing upon its rich cultural heritage to welcome us.

More blogs to follow....
Margaret Steinitz