John Abberger, one of North America’s leading performers on historical oboes, is principal oboist with Tafelmusik and the American Bach Soloists. John serves on the faculty at the University of Toronto and has taught at the City College of New York.
1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?
I am at present in London, England (Friday, May 24), and have just played a short recital at the Handel House Museum this afternoon. Those who have seen Tafelmusik’s “House of Dreams” program will be familiar with the fact that the townhouse where Handel lived in the London neighborhood of Mayfair is now a museum, and the museum regularly presents concerts of chamber music in one of the larger rooms that was used as a rehearsal room by Handel. I was joined by my friend and colleague, the harpsichordist Dongsok Shin from New York, and we played a short program of Hotteterre, Handel, Telemann and C.P.E. Bach. Before arriving in London, my group, Four Centuries of Bach, presented an all-Bach concert at the Tage Alter Musik in Regensburg, one of the premier early music festivals in Europe.
2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7?
As an audience member, I am looking forward to hearing the concerts that will be performed by students and faculty as part of the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. There will be student performances on June 13 and 14and a Grand Finale with students and faculty performing together on June 16.
3. How about as a music maker/player?
As a performer, I am looking forward to quite a few performances that will take place between now and the end of the summer. The final concert of Tafelmusik’s 2012/13 season will be a concert with an expanded orchestra that will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, conducted by Bruno Weil, together with a performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in a special chamber music version with Janina Fialkowska as soloist. I will also be participating in faculty concerts at the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute and performances of Handel’s L’Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato with the Mark Morris Dance Company at the Luminato Festival June 21 to 23. I will be performing at the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa in early July and on August 17 and 18, 2013, Tafelmusik will return to Stratford Summer Music to perform two all-Bach programs, which include the “Wedding” and “Peasant” cantatas.
4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?
After all of the activities listed above I’m looking forward to relaxing a bit, but I will also be thinking ahead about preparations for the upcoming season with Tafelmusik, which will include, in addition to many interesting concerts on the regular subscription series, a tour of Japan in November, a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in March, a return trip to Versailles with Opera Atelier in May and an exciting trip to perform Bach at the Leipzig Bachfest in June.
Some video footage from The Galileo Project where John is featured right off the top, to the right of violinist Jeanne Lamon:
