We’ve added a new “perk” to this year’s subscription offerings:
Along with your regular subscription(s), you can purchase additional tickets for family and friends at the same discounted rate that is offered to you as a subscriber.
For more information on these recordings, click on the round buttons above.
Announcing
The entire catalogue of ABS' critically acclaimed recordings of Cantatas, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Transcriptions of Italian Music, Haydn Masses, and other works is now available for purchase or download [more...]
Subscribers are the backbone of any performing arts organization, and they send a very important message to their peers that their belief in an ensemble’s value to the community warrants their patronage and support.
We are happy to announce our wonderful 20th Anniversary Season, and we hope that the truly sensational programs that we have planned will entice you to join others who enjoy the perks, prestige, and privileges that come along with subscriptions to ABS concert seasons.
This year, as a special “thank you” to our new and returning subscribers, we’ve added an extra benefit: Along with your regular subscription(s), you can purchase additional tickets for family and friends at the same discounted rate that is offered to you as a subscriber. We know that you like to share your enthusiasm about ABS with others, so here’s a way to do that and save in the process! Please note that you must order those discounted tickets now, along with your renewal. (This offer will not be available online, but you can place your order by using the enclosed form, or by calling our office at 415 621-7900.)
We thank you for your previous support of the programs and musicians of American Bach Soloists. And I’m sure that you’ll be thrilled by our 20th Anniversary Season! Please join our list of treasured subscribers, and receive the greatest available discounts in the process. [more…]
Jeffrey Thomas,
Music Director
About the American Bach Soloists
Named “the best American specialists in early music” by The Washington Post, the American Bach Soloists (“ABS”) were founded in 1989 with the mission of introducing contemporary audiences to the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach through historically informed performances, recordings and educational programs. Since then, the ensemble’s repertoire has expanded to include the entire Baroque, as well as masterpieces from the Classical and Romantic eras and beyond. Under the leadership of Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, the ensemble has achieved its vision of assembling the world’s leading vocalists and period-instrument stylists to perform the finest music with the finest interpretation. [more…]
Introducing the American Bach Choir
For years, the Chorus of the American Bach Soloists has shone in repertoire from the Baroque and early Classical eras. With the inception of the Choral Series in 2004, these critically acclaimed singers have been featured on programs exploring more than five centuries of choral music. To acknowledge this splendid work, the American Bach Soloists announce a new name for their choral ensemble: American Bach Choir. Experience what the San Francisco Chronicle hails as “Divinely inspired singing” and celebrate the incomparable talent of the American Bach Choir. [more…]
Praise for Music Director Jeffrey Thomas
“Thomas’ direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music…there is no higher praise for Bach performance.”
Fanfare Magazine
“Thomas cast the music in winningly immediate terms…a performance marked by crisp rhythmic focus and tender lyricism.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Thomas united enlightened historical performance practice with native musical intelligence.”
San Francisco Examiner
“Under the dexterous leadership of Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, the choir produced sounds of remarkable transparency and body.”
Music Director Jeffrey Thomas and ABS’ terrific string band transmitted…the piece’s emotional core…The dissonances marking “lacrimarum valle” (this vale of tears) and the broad cadence before the “Amen” section were gorgeously played. (Scarlatti: Salve Regina)
Thomas, who is unsurpassable as a Bach interpreter… was in charge, with a hefty assist from Corey Jamason’s obbligato organ playing. Thomas built the ritornellos perfectly, and Jamason’s nimble fingers provided the rhythmic thrust and crispness. (Bach: Vergnügte Ruh, BWV 170)
The orchestra played brilliantly, as it did also in a concerto grosso by Charles Avison, based on themes by Scarlatti. (Handel: Arias)
"inspiring singing from the chorus and the soloists" Historical Performance
About our new recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
from Early Music America | Spring 2008
This recently released recording, made at the 1994 Berkeley Festival and Exhibition by the American Bach Soloists under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas, takes the work on its own terms, chipping away at the monolith and giving us something quite refreshing.
This isn’t a performance for the faint of heart; Thomas and company pull out all the stops right from the start. The opening “Allegro ma non troppo, un poco” roars with primordial power, while the second movement scherzo is raucous and a prescient reminder of Bruckner’s great scherzos that are yet to come. There’s poetry but not torpor in the adagio. And the finale—well, the choral finale fairly blows the roof off. Timpani pound, brass snarl, and bass David Thomas proclaims the “An die Freude” like an Old Testament prophet. The rest of the vocal quartet is fine, as are the choral forces, and the sound quality, even 14 years later (why was this recording in the can for so long?), is a typical Peter Nothnagle production: outstanding.
Announcing
