I   Allegro
II  Adagio
III Allegro

Johann Sebastian Bach’s professional career included stints as a court musician as well as extended periods as a church musician. These two positions called for very different types of music.  Most of Bach’s concertos, including the Concerto for Violin and Oboe, are believed to have been written between 1717 and 1723 when, as Kapellmeister at the princely court of Anhalt-Cöthen, he led a small band of very accomplished players. Cöthen, a Calvinist establishment, had no use for elaborate church music, so Bach concentrated on composing for orchestra. When Bach went to Leipzig to become Cantor of the Thomaskirche in 1723, his professional and personal life changed drastically.  In Leipzig Bach was in charge of music for three churches and had little need to write concertos and little opportunity to perform them. However,  three of his sons were now musicians in training old enough to cut their teeth on serious fare. In 1723, Wilhelm Friedemann was 13, Carl Philipp Emanuel nine, and Johann Gottfried Bernhard eight. In addition to a houseful of kids, Bach also owned a houseful of harpsichords (he left seven of them when he died), and enough string instruments to outfit a small orchestra, so it made sense to rearrange his Cöthen concertos for harpsichords and strings as practice vehicles for his sons. As a result, this concerto also exists in an arrangement for two harpsichords.

The Concerto is structured in the standard Baroque manner of three movements: a slower movement sandwiched between two quicker movements. The concerto opens with the oboe carrying the lovely and now familiar theme supported by the strings. In the slow movement, the oboe and violin share the same long-lined melody. The result is a timeless tenderness. The masterful way in which the solo instruments blend with the orchestra throughout marks this as one of the most mature works of Bach's years at Cöthen.

I    Allegro
II  Andante (in D minor)
III Allegro assai

Like the other concertos, Number 2  uses the three-movement, fast-slow-fast design, based on Italian concerto format. Beyond that, they have nothing in common, and, in fact, among the six, there is as much variety as you can find in any six works by Bach. Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 might be the most popular of the six Brandenburg Concertos, perhaps because of its brilliant scoring. The first movement of this concerto was chosen as the first musical piece to be played on the Voyager Golden Record, a phonograph record containing a broad sample of Earth's common sounds, languages, and music sent into outer space with the two Voyager probes. The first movement also served as a theme for the PBS television series, Great Performances, while the third movement served as the opening theme for the American public affairs program Firing Line.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 is scored for trumpet, flute, oboe, and violin as soloists, with strings and harpsichord accompaniment. The trumpet part in particular is considered one of the most challenging in the Bach repertoire. Normally a piccolo trumpet is used because of its higher pitch and distinctively brilliant tone.  In the opening movement, Bach uses two recurring themes made up of rapid sixteenth notes which create a perpetual motion effect; each theme is played at some point by each of the soloists, and together the two themes make up the bulk of the melodic material of the movement. The trumpet is omitted from the second movement, a minuet in form, which creates a more intimate mood and helps contrast it with the two faster movements which surround it.  The trumpet, silent throughout the Andante, makes its presence known in the first measure of the third movement.  There is a single primary theme here, which is introduced by the soloists like the exposition of a fugue, in the order trumpet, oboe, violin, flute. Whatever solemnity that might have been created by the andante is joyously blown away in the finale.

I   Allegro
II  Adagio
III Allegro

Au cours de sa carrière professionnelle, Jean-Sébastien Bach fut, au cours de certaines phases, musicien de cour et, durant de longues périodes, musicien d’église. Ces deux postes exigeaient des types de musique très différents. On pense que la plupart des concertos de Bach, y compris le Concerto pour violon et hautbois, ont été écrits entre 1717 et 1723, alors qu’en tant que Kapellmeister à la cour princière d’Anhalt-Cöthen, il dirigeait un petit groupe de musiciens très accomplis. Cöthen, établissement calviniste, n’avait que faire de la musique d’église élaborée, si bien que Bach se concentrait sur la composition pour orchestre. Lorsque Bach se rend à Leipzig pour devenir Cantor de la Thomaskirche en 1723, sa vie professionnelle et personnelle change radicalement. À Leipzig, Bach est responsable de la musique de trois églises et n’a guère besoin d’écrire de concertos et peu d’occasions de les jouer. Cependant, trois de ses fils sont maintenant musiciens en formation, assez âgés pour se faire les dents sur des œuvres sérieuses. En 1723, Wilhelm Friedemann a 13 ans, Carl Philipp Emanuel neuf ans et Johann Gottfried Bernhard huit ans. En plus d’avoir une maison pleine d’enfants, Bach possédait aussi une maison pleine de clavecins (il en a laissé sept à sa mort) et suffisamment d’instruments à cordes pour équiper un petit orchestre. Il était donc logique de réorganiser ses concertos de Cöthen pour clavecins et cordes afin de permettre à ses fils de s’exercer. Par conséquent, ce concerto existe également dans un arrangement pour deux clavecins.

Le concerto est structuré, selon la méthode baroque standard, en trois mouvements : un mouvement plus lent niché entre deux mouvements plus rapides. Le concerto s’ouvre sur le hautbois qui porte le thème charmant et désormais familier, soutenu par les cordes. Dans le mouvement lent, le hautbois et le violon partagent la même mélodie sur de longues lignes. Le résultat est d’une tendresse atemporelle. La façon magistrale dont les instruments solistes se mêlent à l’orchestre tout au long du concerto en fait l’une des œuvres les plus mûres des années que Bach a passées à Cöthen.

I    Allegro
II  Andante (en ré mineur)
III Allegro assai

Comme les autres concertos, le numéro 2 utilise la conception en trois mouvements, rapide-lent-rapide, basée sur le format des concertos italiens. En dehors de cela, ils n’ont rien en commun et, en fait, parmi les six, il y a autant de variété que ce que l’on peut trouver dans six œuvres de Bach. Le Concerto brandebourgeois n° 2 pourrait bien être le plus populaire des six concertos brandebourgeois, peut-être en raison de sa brillante partition. Le premier mouvement de ce concerto a été choisi comme première pièce musicale jouée sur le Voyager Golden Record, un disque phonographique contenant un large échantillon des sons, des langues et de la musique les plus courants sur Terre, envoyé dans l’espace avec les deux sondes Voyager. Le premier mouvement a également servi de thème à la série télévisée de PBS, Great Performances, tandis que le troisième mouvement a servi de thème d’ouverture à l’émission d’affaires publiques américaine Firing Line.

Le Concerto brandebourgeois n° 2 est écrit pour trompette, flûte, hautbois et violon en tant que solistes, avec un accompagnement de cordes et de clavecin. La partie de la trompette, en particulier, est considérée comme l’une des plus difficiles du répertoire de Bach. Normalement, une trompette piccolo est utilisée en raison de sa tonalité plus aiguë et de sa sonorité brillante distinctive. Dans le mouvement d’ouverture, Bach utilise deux thèmes récurrents composés de doubles croches rapides qui créent un effet de mouvement perpétuel; chaque thème est joué à un moment donné par chacun des solistes et, ensemble, les deux thèmes constituent l’essentiel de la matière mélodique du mouvement. La trompette est omise dans le deuxième mouvement, qui est un menuet dans la forme, ce qui crée une atmosphère plus intime et contribue à la faire contraster avec les deux mouvements plus rapides qui l’entourent. La trompette, silencieuse tout au long de l’Andante, se manifeste dans la première mesure du troisième mouvement. Il y a ici un seul thème principal, qui est introduit par les solistes comme l’exposition d’une fugue, dans l’ordre trompette, hautbois, violon, flûte. Toute solennité qui aurait pu être créée par l’andante est joyeusement balayée dans le finale.

Jonathan Crow is the 2021/22 Cecilia Concerts Musician-In-Residence. He has been Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) since 2011. A native of Prince George, British Columbia, Jonathan earned his Bachelor of Music degree in honours performance from McGill University in 1998, at which time he joined the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) as Associate Principal Second Violin. Between 2002 and 2006, Jonathan was the Concertmaster of the OSM; during this time, he was the youngest concertmaster of any major North American orchestra. Jonathan continues to perform as guest concertmaster with orchestras around the world, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO), Pittsburgh Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Filarmonia de Lanaudiere, and Pernambuco Festival Orchestra (Brazil). Jonathan has also performed as a soloist with most major Canadian orchestras, including the Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras; the National Arts Centre and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras; the Victoria, Nova Scotia, and Kingston Symphonies; and Orchestra London, under the baton of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Andrew Davis, Peter Oundjian, Kent Nagano, Mario Bernardi, João Carlos Martins, and Gustavo Gimeno.

Jonathan joined the Schulich School of Music at McGill University as an Assistant Professor of Violin and was appointed Associate Professor of Violin in 2010. His current and former students have received prizes at competitions around the world, including the Menuhin International Violin Competition, OSM Competition, Shean Competition, CBC Radio’s NEXT Competition, Eckhardt-Grammatté Competition, Canadian Music Competition, and Stulberg International String Competition, and work regularly with orchestras such as the NACO, TSO, OSM, Camerata Salzburg, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Verbier Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Kammerphilharmonie, and Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto.

In 2016, Jonathan was named Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music, which enjoyed record attendance and rave reviews in his first three seasons. An avid chamber musician, he has performed at chamber music festivals throughout North America, South America, and Europe, including the Banff, Ravinia, Orford, Domaine Forget, Seattle, Montreal, Ottawa, Incontri in Terra di Sienna, Alpenglow, Festival Vancouver, Pernambuco (Brazil), Giverny (France), and Strings in the Mountains festivals. He is a founding member of the JUNO Award–winning New Orford String Quartet, a project-based ensemble dedicated to the promotion of standard and Canadian string quartet repertoire throughout North America. As an advocate of contemporary music, he has premièred works by Canadian composers Michael Conway Baker, Eldon Rathburn, Barrie Cabena, Gary Kulesha, Tim Brady, François Dompierre, Vivian Fung, Ana Sokolovic, Marjan Mozetich, Christos Hatzis, Ernest MacMillan, and Healey Willan. He also includes in his repertoire major concerti by such modern composers as Ligeti, Schnittke, Bernstein, Brian Cherney, Rodney Sharman, Vivian Fung, and Cameron Wilson.

Jonathan has recorded for the ATMA, Bridge, CBC, Oxingale, Skylark, and XXI-21 labels, and is heard frequently on Chaîne Culturelle of Radio-Canada, CBC Radio Two, and National Public Radio, along with Radio France, Deutsche Welle, Hessischer Rundfunk, and the RAI in Europe.

Leonie Wall joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as second flutist in September 2004. Winner of the 2004 New York Flute Club Competition, she is a former student of Timothy Hutchins at McGill University (BMus) and Jeanne Baxtresser at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

In 2001/02, Leonie served a one-year term as principal flute of Orchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, with whom she also recorded the Gabriel Thibodeau adaptation of Tchaikovsky's La Dame de Pique (Analekta, 2002). She has toured as principal flute with Les Violons du Roy, and was for several years principal flute of Eric Paetkau’s g27 (group of twenty-seven) Toronto chamber orchestra. She has been an invited artist at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, Les Concerts des Iles du Bic, and Festival Classique des Hautes-Laurentides.

Leonie has appeared on both CBC Radio and Société Radio-Canada and is the recipient of numerous prizes and scholarships from the Canadian Music Competition and the National Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary Competition.

Leonie is very active with the TSO's education programs and is committed to bringing classical music into the classrooms of elementary schoolchildren. She performed many shows for young Toronto students with the TSO Woodwind Trio under the Preludes program, and participated yearly in the TSO's highly popular Adopt-A-Player program.

Since 2012, she now has two young children of her own, with husband Kai Hynna.

High on her list of interests are her many years of summer work as a cycling guide for Reilly Cycling Tours, a company which runs trips to the Tour de France. She has spent many months of July riding with clients in the French Alps, showing them the beauty of the alpine mountains and the passion of "Le Tour"! She rides to work at the TSO on her bicycle every day, all year round.

On New Year's Day of 2009, Leonie reached her goal of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak of Africa, at 19,340ft (5898m), an experience she will never forget.

Andrew McCandless was appointed Principal Trumpet of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and has established himself as a prominent brass player in the orchestral world. Since his first professional position at the age of 20 with the Savannah Symphony, Andrew has also held the position of Principal Trumpet with many notable orchestras including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Dallas Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in which he still performs today.

As Principal Trumpet with the TSO, Andrew is regularly featured as a soloist. In 2010, Andrew performed the world première of Songs of the Paradise Saloon, a trumpet concerto written specifically for him by Bramwell Tovey, and commissioned by the TSO. He appears as a guest artist and chamber musician throughout North America, having performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Regina Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Andrew began playing the trumpet at the age of nine while studying at the Youth Performing Arts School in his native Louisville, Kentucky. He continued his studies at Boston University and the Eastman School of Music. As a junior in college, Andrew began playing with the Savannah Symphony as Co-Principal Trumpet. Today, he continues to be involved in classical music education. Andrew is on faculty at The Royal Conservatory, teaches privately, and has given masterclasses throughout North America including at the Eastman School of Music, University of Calgary, University of Toronto, and Northwestern University.

Andrew is a Yamaha performing artist.

​Eri Hattori Kosaka joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and became Assistant Principal Second Violin in 2015. Prior to her current position, Ms. Kosaka was a member of the Kansas City Symphony for two seasons and a violin fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, where she was a rotating Concertmaster.

Growing up in Tokyo, Japan, Ms. Kosaka started playing the violin at age six and took lessons with Akiko Tatsumi, with whom she studied with for more than 10 years. While she lived in San Diego, she studied with Michael Tseitlin. After graduating from Toho High School of Music and Toho Gakuen College of Music in Japan, she was awarded a scholarship from the Yamaha Foundation to study abroad. Ms. Kosaka graduated with a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory where she studied with Miriam Fried. She has participated in festivals and music academies across the U.S., Japan, and Europe, including the Aspen Music Festival and Sarasota Music Festival in the U.S., Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, Salzburg Music Academy in Austria, and Courchevel International Music Academy in France.

As a soloist, she has performed with the San Diego Symphony, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, and Central Aichi Orchestra, and has won awards at the Japan Mozart Competition, New Classic Audition in Japan, and the All Japan Student Music Competition.

Winona Zelenka is one of Canada’s finest cellists on the scene today. As a soloist, she has performed concerti with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Mississauga Symphony and the Toronto Philharmonia Orchestra among many others. She is a dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, as well as a champion of new music. She is a founding member of Trio Arkel, an acclaimed chamber music ensemble that includes violinist Marie Bérard and violist Rémi Pelletier, now in their 9th concert season at Trinity St.Paul’s Centre where they present an eclectic mix of chamber music works and internationally famed guest artists.

In 2010 Winona released her first CD set of the Bach Suites for Solo Cello, a recording on Marquis Classics, which received international acclaim, and was nominated for a JUNO award in the Solo/Chamber Music category. Her second recording, released in 2012, “Connections”, is of sonatas for cello and piano written by French composers, with pianist Connie Shih. In August of 2021, the CD set “Homage to Eugène Ysäye” was released on the Affeto label; this collaboration with Elmira Darvarova, violin, and Ronald Carbone, viola, features solo and chamber works by Ysäye, Oesterle, Serebrier and Knox.

Winona obtained her Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma at the University of Indiana, where she studied with Janos Starker. Her other formative teachers were William Findlay, Vladimir Orloff and William Pleeth.

Winona has won orchestral positions in England, Canada and the United States. She was Acting Principal of the TSO for five years, and for the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra for two seasons. Since 2015 she has been the Principal Cellist at Classical Tahoe, a summer festival featuring an orchestra of lead musicians from top North American ensembles.

Christopher Bagan is a versatile artist, equally at home on modern and historical keyboard instruments. He is in high demand as a collaborator, chamber musician and basso continuo specialist. He has performed with many of the leading baroque singers, instrumentalists and conductors in North America and abroad with recent engagements including appearances with I Furiosi, Apollo's Fire, Les Dèlices, Catacoustic Consort, Daniel Taylor and Ellen Hargis. He is a regular performer in the Early Music Vancouver main series and Summer Festival as well as Vancouver’s Music on Main concert series. In 2015-16 Christopher was the Early Keyboard instructor at Case Western Reserve University and the head of Harpsichord at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He is harpsichordist for the Canadian Opera Company and Opera Atelier and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of British Columbia with a specialization in the piano music of Arnold Schönberg.

Liam Ritz (b.1996) is a Canadian-born composer based in Toronto, Ontario. He has worked with renowned musicians and ensembles including the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Gemma New, Veronique Lacroix, Etsuko Kimura, Cameron Crozman and more. Liam’s works have been frequently performed in festivals and workshops across Canada, as well as performances in the United States, Italy, Finland, and Argentina. Recognized for his work, he has received six SOCAN Foundation Young Composers Awards, a City of Hamilton Arts Award, was selected for the inaugural Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer Fellowship Program (2018/2019), as well as the 2022 Winnipeg New Music Festival: Composers Institute. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Liam’s work has been supported by organizations such as the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the RBC Emerging Artists Project.