Faculty Artist Series: Complete Bach Cello Suites

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Faculty Artist Series: Complete Bach Cello Suites

Friday, February 18, 2022 . 6:30PM
Photo by Juan Tallo.
Principal People: 

Eric Kutz, cello

Special Announcement: 

Missed the performance? Watch the livestream here, available until April 18, 2022.

Event Attributes

Presented By

Presented By: 
UMD School of Music
Accessibility: 

For more information regarding accessible accommodations, please click here.

Venue: 
Seating: 
General Admission

Join us in person at The Clarice or watch the livestream from the comfort of your home.

Associate Professor of Cello Eric Kutz performs the complete cello suites of J.S. Bach in one epic recital. Beloved by many cellists and classical music listeners alike, Kutz learned the first suite at the age of 12 years old. His exploration of Bach continued as the focus of his D.M.A. dissertation and Kutz has continued to delve deeper into Bach’s music ever since. Inspirational, emotive and profound, the six cello suites can be interpreted as representing the circle of life starting with the innocence of youth and moving through life and into death before concluding with resurrection. This performance will last approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes including an intermission.

Eric Kutz holds the Barbara K. Steppel Memorial Faculty Fellowship in cello.

Health + Safety For In-Person Attendance

All patrons 12 years of age and older are required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result from a test taken within 48 hours of the performance for entry into the venue (home tests will NOT be accepted). 

Masks must be worn at all times. Please see our Health + Safety page for more information.

PROGRAM MENU: PROGRAM • ABOUT THE ARTISTS

PROGRAM

Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
  1. Prelude
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Sarabande
  5. Minuet
  6. Gigue
Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008
Bach
  1. Prelude
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Sarabande
  5. Minuet
  6. Gigue
Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009
Bach
  1. Prelude
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Sarabande
  5. Bourée
  6. Gigue
Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010
Bach
  1. Prelude
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Sarabande
  5. Bourée
  6. Gigue
INTERMISSION
 
Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011
Bach
  1. Prelude
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Sarabande
  5. Gavotte
  6. Gigue
BRIEF PAUSE
 
Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012
Bach
  1. Prelude
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Sarabande
  5. Gavotte
  6. Gigue

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ERIC KUTZ
 
University of Maryland Associate Professor of Cello Eric Kutz has captivated audiences across North America, Asia and Europe. His diverse collaborations cut across musical styles, and have ranged from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to jazz great Ornette Coleman. Kutz is active as a teacher, a chamber musician, an orchestral musician and a concerto soloist.
 
Kutz joined the UMD School of Music in 2015, where he holds the Barbara K. Steppel Memorial Faculty Fellowship in cello, and performs as a member of the Left Bank Quartet. Previously, he was a professor at Luther College, where he served on the faculty from 2002–2015, and prior to that, Kutz was the cellist of the Chester String Quartet for four years. The Quartet, called “one of the best and brightest of the country’s young string quartets” by the Boston Globe, was in residence at Indiana University South Bend. The Quartet gave two tours of Europe during Kutz’s tenure, and performed from coast to coast.
 
Kutz is a founding member of the Murasaki Duo, a cello and piano ensemble formed at the Juilliard School in 1996. In 2017 the Duo gave its second tour to Europe and Asia. Advocates for new music, the Duo actively commissions new works, in addition to performing the classics. Hailed by New York Concert Review as having “an easy virtuosity, and an unusually high level of ensemble playing” after its Carnegie Hall debut, the Duo regularly performs on chamber music series throughout the nation.
 
The Duo’s second CD, “Duo Virtuoso,” was released on the Delos label in 2015, and was lauded by American Record Guide as “an interesting program, played to the hilt by both parties. These are two outstanding musicians.” The disc won the Violoncello Foundation’s 2016 Listeners’ Choice Award, chosen from among all cello CD’s released the previous year. The Duo’s debut compact disc appeared on the Centaur Records label; this disc was hailed by the Journal of the Atlanta Audio Society as “ebullient” and “brilliant throughout.” The Murasaki Duo’s most recent recording, released in 2017, features the complete cello/piano music of American composer Maria Newman. The Whole Note raved, “Kutz is simply outstanding in a quite dazzling and virtuosic work.”
 
As an orchestral musician, Kutz summers in Chicago as a member of the Grant Park Orchestra’s cello section. He has also appeared in the section of the National Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has been principal cellist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and the Juilliard Orchestra, and he has performed under the batons of Sir Georg Solti, Kurt Masur and Seiji Ozawa, among many others.
 
In 1997, Kutz traveled to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow as a visiting artist, performing new chamber works by American composers. Other performance highlights include a tour of Germany and a concert in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall as part of Lincoln Center’s Mozart Bicentennial celebration. Kutz has premiered over two-dozen works, and has been broadcast live on WQXR and WNYC, both of New York City, WFMT Chicago, as well as nationally on PBS television’s Live from Lincoln Center.
 
Kutz holds degrees from the Juilliard School and Rice University. He performs on a cello by Raffaele Fiorini (Bologna, 1877), and a bow by François Voirin (Paris, 1880).