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The Bach-Mendelssohn Project

Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia
The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia performing St. Matthew Passion. Photo by Sharon Torello.
The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia performing St. Matthew Passion. Photo by Sharon Torello.
The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in rehearsal for the Bach/Mendelssohn St. Matthew Passion. Photo by Sharon Torello.
The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in rehearsal for the Bach/Mendelssohn St. Matthew Passion. Photo by Sharon Torello.
The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in rehearsal for the Bach/Mendelssohn St. Matthew Passion. Photo by Sharon Torello.
The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in rehearsal for the Bach/Mendelssohn St. Matthew Passion. Photo by Sharon Torello.
Mendelssohn's original Bach St. Matthew Passion full score. Throughout the score, Mendelssohn made dynamic and articulation marks in light pencil, preserving the original manuscript. Photo courtesy of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
Mendelssohn's original Bach St. Matthew Passion full score. Throughout the score, Mendelssohn made dynamic and articulation marks in light pencil, preserving the original manuscript. Photo courtesy of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.

In celebration of their 140th season, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia reconstructed Felix Mendelssohn's 1841 revision of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, in an American premiere at Girard College Chapel. Mendelssohn's edits to the original score were designed to popularize Bach among mid-19th-century audiences, who were more likely to study than to perform the composer's work. Artistic Director Alan Harler, who traveled to Oxford University to study Mendelssohn's handwritten edits, conducted the February 8, 2015 performance. Participating musicians included the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson, tenor Yusuke Fujii, bass Andrew Bogard, and Michael Stairs, organ. Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia also produced a "BIG SING" concert, during which audience members will be invited to sing several of Bach's St. Matthew Passion chorales.


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uestions of ractice
Mendelssohn's original Bach St. Matthew Passion full score. Throughout the score, Mendelssohn made dynamic and articulation marks in light pencil, preserving the original manuscript. Photo courtesy of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
Interview

Susan Bernofsky on Artists as Translators

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The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia in rehearsal for the Bach/Mendelssohn St. Matthew Passion. Photo by Sharon Torello.
Interview

"Whose Passion Are We Hearing?:" On Mendelssohn's Revival of the St. Matthew Passion

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Recipient
Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia

Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia

One of this country's oldest choruses, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia seeks to advance the development of choral music as an art form. Founded in 1874, the Mendelssohn Club's rich musical history includes the American premiere of Mahler's Eighth Symphony and the Philadelphia premieres of Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem and Britten's War Requiem. In 2014, Mendelssohn Club will present BIG SING/Julia Wolfe, the culmination of a two-year project around the commission of a new, hybrid choral work by composer Julia Wolfe, co-founder of New York City new music collective Bang on a Can and a runner-up for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Wolfe has collected and incorporated stories from the chorus and the community at large in order to create this work, which will be composed for a 130+ voice chorus with the Bang on a Can All-Stars in a chamber/folk ensemble configuration.

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Explore Connections
Adebunmi Gbadebo and Odili Donald Odita, 2022 Pew Fellows.

Fellow to Fellow: Adebunmi Gbadebo and Odili Donald Odita on Meaning in Materiality 
Interview Practice & Process
Pew Fellows Maia Chao and James Maurelle. Photos by Neal Santos.

Fellow to Fellow: Artists Maia Chao and James Maurelle on Artistic Origins and Why They’ve Made Philadelphia Home
Interview Practice & Process
The Barnes Foundation, Returning to Before, performed as part of William Edmondson: A Monumental Vision exhibition, choreographed by Brendan Fernandes. Photo by Daniel Jackson for Embassy: Interactive.
Choreographer Brendan Fernandes on Dance in Museums
Video Site-Specific Performance
Terence Nance, film still from Swimming in Your Skin Again, 2014. Courtesy of Terence Nance.
Artist Terence Nance on Presenting Film in a Gallery Space
Video Cross-Disciplinary Practices
The Barnes Foundation, Returning to Before, performed as part of William Edmondson: A Monumental Vision exhibition, choreographed by Brendan Fernandes. Photo by Daniel Jackson for Embassy: Interactive.
How Dance Converges with Sculpture in Barnes Foundation Exhibition
Video Site-Specific Performance
Cesar Viveros and Ada Trillo

Fellow to Fellow: Artists Cesar Viveros and Ada Trillo on Art Created from Memory and Cultural Identity
Interview Social & Community-Based Practices
Maeng Wookjae, Secret Forest, 2019; porcelain, gold, paper, wire frame, elastic band, light, sound; 110" x 67" x 67". Photo courtesy of Korea Ceramic Foundation.
The Shape of Time: Korean Art After 1989
Project Grant Exhibitions & Public Interpretation
TOWN, 2022, Theatre Horizon, Norristown, PA. Photo by John C. Hawthorne.
Building a Sense of Belonging through Community-Centered Theater
Essay Social & Community-Based Practices