A Musical Offering
Works from the Court of Frederick the Great
Saturday, January 25 • 7:30 pm
Series Subscription Concert
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church
1001 Queens Road, Charlotte, NC 28207
Bach Akademie Charlotte Ensemble
Guy Fishman, leader/cello
Featuring Emi Ferguson, flute
General Admission: $36.75
Premium Preferred Seating: $52.50
30&Under (ages 18–30): $15.00 per concert (general admission)
Under 18: Free
In 1747, an elderly Johann Sebastian Bach was summoned from Leipzig to the Royal Court in Potsdam to visit Frederick the Great, King of Prussia—as well as his own son, C.P.E. Bach, who was employed at court. The king, an avid flutist and composer, prepared (or had someone prepare) a complex tune and, upon meeting Bach, asked him to improvise a three-voice fugue upon the “Royal Theme,” which Bach dispatched to the amazement of all present.
Perhaps wanting to embarrass Bach, the king then asked him for a six-voiced improvised fugue. Bach declined, but promised to send the king a working-out of a six-voice fugue upon the now-famous theme.
This gift—a fugue in six voices as well as multiple canons, fugues, and a sonata, all involving the king's flute—is known as the “Musical Offering,” and contains musical riddles, theological commentary, and virtuoso writing. Music by Bach’s sons and the king himself precedes Bach Akademie Charlotte's regifting of Bach’s monumental and beautiful tribute not only to the author of the tune, but to his own mastery of counterpoint and invention.
Guest musician Emi Ferguson is one of the nation’s premier baroque flutists. This is her first appearance with Bach Akademie Charlotte.
Frederick II (“The Great”) Sonata no. 9 in E minor for flute and continuo, SpiF 154
Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH Sonata in D major for violin and keyboard, Wq 71
Johann Christoph Friedrich BACH Sonata in A major for violoncello and keyboard, HW x/3
Johann Sebastian BACH Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079 (The Musical Offering)
“Frederick the Great Playing the Flute at Sanssouci” (Flötenkonzert Friedrichs des Großen in Sanssouci). Oil on canvas, Adolph Menzel, 1852. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach is the harpshichord player.
Emi Ferguson
Hailed by critics for her “tonal bloom” and “hauntingly beautiful performances,” English-American performer and composer Emi Ferguson stretches the boundaries of what is expected of modern-day musicians. Emi’s unique approach to the flute can be heard in performances that alternate between the Silver Flute, Historical Flutes, and Auxilary Flutes, playing repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to today.
Emi is very proud to be a 2023 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, and can be heard live in concerts and festivals around the world as a soloist and with groups including AMOC*, Ruckus, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Handel and Haydn Society, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. Emi has been named the new music director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque in Southern California, dreaming up programs of and inspired by Baroque music for Californian concert goers. Emi was a featured performer alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Simon, and James Taylor at the 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony of 9/11 at Ground Zero, where her performance of Amazing Grace was televised worldwide. Her performance that day is now part of the permanent collection at the 911 Museum.
Her debut album, Amour Cruel, an indie-pop song cycle inspired by the music of the 17th century French court was released by Arezzo Music in September 2017, spending 4 weeks on the Classical, Classical Crossover, and World Music Billboard Charts. Her 2019 album Fly the Coop: Bach Sonatas and Preludes, a collaboration with continuo band Ruckus debuted at #1 on the iTunes classical charts and #2 on the Billboard classical charts, and was called “blindingly impressive...a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” by The New York Times.
Emi is currently on the faculty of the Juilliard School, the Bach Virtuosi Festival, and has taught on the faculty of the University of Buffalo. Born in Japan and raised in London and Boston, she now resides in New York. Visit Emi’s web site >
