Dr. Elisa Williams Bickers, Elizabeth Suh Lane, Cameron J. Rolling and Sarah Tannehill Anderson
Among our many good fortunes in Kansas City is an incredible wealth of holiday performance options. There’s something for everyone, from Scrooge to sacred, drag to trad, Jingle Bells to handbell choirs. Which is great, because everyone has a different, very personal definition of the perfect holiday celebration. And though no one’s asking, here are mine: simple, serene, with a touch of magic. Silent night, holy night.
Last Saturday’s holiday concert by Bach Aria Soloists (BAS), held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, just happened to fulfill these requirements to perfection. To begin, St. Paul’s stone-walled, timber-raftered nave, soaring but cozy, illuminated by flickering candles, is an absolutely ideal setting for a winter concert. (Even before the brand new, custom-voiced Steinway B concert grand piano, arrived only 48 hours previously from the Steinway Hall showroom in New York City.)
The holidays are the time to revisit beloved traditions, and what is more beloved or traditional than Handel’s “Messiah” or Bach cantatas? There were wonderful servings of both in this well-balanced program, which featured alternating solos by BAS soprano Sarah Tannehill Anderson and guest baritone Cameron J. Rolling. Accompaniment was provided by BAS Artistic Director/Founder Elizabeth Suh Lane on violin and BAS artist Elisa Williams Bickers, who traveled between harpsichord, organ and piano.
Rolling has a genuinely appealing, affable presence (shockingly not always a given with classical soloists) that complements his polished walnut-grained baritone. Particularly lovely was the interplay between his vigorous running vocal line and Suh Lane’s recurring violin motif in Bach’s “Gleichwie die Wilden Meereswellen.”
Soprano Tannehill Anderson opened the program with a radiant “If God Be For Us” from the “Messiah.” But it is her exquisitely sensitively account of “Cradle Song” that made this evening one to remember. At every concert one hopes for a touch of the sublime. And occasionally, starlight touches down.
“Cradle Song” is an early work of the contemporary (but far from modernist) composer Ned Rorem, who died only two years ago, in 2022. But with its text in Middle Scots and ravishingly spare melody, it feels like an timeless artifact of ages past. Tannehill Anderson’s performance was a marvel of restraint, her tone feather-light and pure as air.
If that was the star atop, Rolling’s final number was the gift beneath the tree. His stirring version of the traditional spiritual “Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child” nearly brought the audience to its feet. Bickers provided a rollicking accompaniment, striding with glee up and down the new Steinway, to which she could not help giving several fond pats. The evening closed with a short, sweet carol sing. All is calm, all is bright. And a touch of magic.
Reviewed Saturday, December 14, 2024. Bach Aria Soloists performed selections from Handel’s “Messiah,” at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, MO. For more information visit www.bachariasoloists.com.
On this, its 25th season, Bach Aria Soloists is to be recognized not only for its consistent brilliance, but its leadership as a women-directed and woman-comprised ensemble in a field that remains dominated by men.
