Recent Bach Discoveries for Recital, Church and Teaching

James Kibbie

Monday, June 20, 8 AM

The canon of known organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach has expanded since the tricentennial of his birth in 1985. The authentication of 33 previously unknown chorale preludes in Yale’s Neumeister Manuscript sparked an international search for other overlooked compositions. Additional manuscripts have since come to light thanks in part to greater access to libraries and private collections after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and scholars have also reassessed a number of works long known but previously discounted. In this workshop, James Kibbie explores these new possibilities for recital, church and teaching and presents perspectives on performing them drawn from his experience recording the complete Bach works on original baroque organs in Germany.

James Kibbie is Chair of the Department of Organ and University Organist at the University of Michigan. He also maintains a full schedule of concert, recording, and festival engagements throughout North America and Europe, including appearances at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, Royal Festival Hall in London, Dvořak Hall in Prague, and Lincoln Center in New York. His recent recordings of the complete Bach works on historic baroque organs in Germany have been welcomed with enthusiastic critical and audience acclaim. His other recordings include works of Buxtehude, Franck, Dupré, Alain, Tournemire, Sowande, Buck, Morrison, Ropek and Eben.