Featuring Maurice Steger, recorder, with Joel Bacon and James David Christie, organ/harpsichord. The program features the music of Sammartini, Telemann, and Corelli.
The English “Independent” has crowned Maurice Steger “the world’s leading recorder player.” Others have called him a “wizard,” the “Paganini of the recorder” or simply a “virtuoso.” Maurice Steger has successfully established himself as one of the world’s most popular soloists of Baroque music, performing shows worldwide and releasing numerous CDs to critical acclaim, awarded with some of the most prestigious prizes.
His lively style and his brilliant yet spontaneous technique have helped Maurice Steger reinvent the recorder as an instrument and completely renew its image. Among his numerous CD releases, Telemann’s flute quartets (Deutsche Grammophon/Archiv), Sammartini’s sonatas and Telemann’s concertos and suites with treble recorder (harmonia mundi) stand out. Several releases, including “Venezia 1625” (harmonia mundi), received international awards.
With his repertoire consisting mainly of Baroque music, Maurice Steger is a soloist in high demand with the leading ensembles specialising in performances on period instruments, including Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, The English Concert, Musica Antiqua Köln, Europa Galante and I Barocchisti.
His busy concert schedule sees him connect regularly with modern orchestras like the Berliner Barock Solisten, Les Violons du Roy and the Brandenburg State Orchestra. He often performs together with other renowned artists like Hilary Hahn, Cecilia Bartoli, Igor Oistrakh, Fabio Biondi, Sandrine Piau, Andrew Manze, Diego Fasolis, Sol Gabetta or Thomas Quasthoff.
Joel Bacon joined the Colorado State University faculty in 2005 as the Stewart and Sheron Golden Chair in Organ and Liturgical Studies. He earned degrees in mathematics and organ performance from Baylor University, and an artist diploma in organ from the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien (Vienna, Austria). With a dissertation on the use of organ in selected orchestral works, he earned his PhD in historical musicology through a joint degree program of Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts and the University of Vienna.
Joel has been heard in recital throughout Europe and North America, and live performances have been broadcast on Austrian Radio (Ö1) and Public Radio International. Recent projects have taken him to prominent venues in Paris, Jerusalem, Munich, and Vienna.
He is organist at St. John XXIII Catholic Church in Fort Collins, where he conducts a choir specializing in Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.