Ian Tomaz - Bach Cycles

A project created for all of us, investigating the impact J. S. Bach’s
music has had on the arts in his day and in ours.

Ian Tomaz - Bach Cycles:

Focusing on Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier
and the work of Nadia Boulanger, a French pedagogue

Ian Tomaz is a young concert pianist who recently finished a three year artistic residency at the Fondation des Etats Unis in Paris, France, where he worked on research and performance projects in partnership with the Association des Amis de Poulenc and the Centre Nadia et Lili Boulanger.

Ian created this project principally to engage in work which serves the local and broader provincial population. The project is framed as a cycle of four concerts supplemented by a weekly lecture series over the Fall 2024- Spring 2025 season. The initial support of this project came from the Centre Nadia et Lili Boulanger in France in 2023-2024.

During his residency at LAMP, he will present weekly lectures focused on two preludes and fugues by Bach and classical repertoire from his time through the present day, showing how we can form connections between any genre and era of music.

Lectures:

Each week, two preludes and fugues will be played and analyzed. The specific musical characteristics of each will then be connected to music of other composers and eras, showing how the principles exemplified by Bach pervade all musical genres and eras. Lectures will be one hour, plus a final 10-15 minute performance.

Concerts:

After each set of three lectures, a recital will be given of the six preludes and fugues discussed, paired with music of later composers showing Bach’s influence, beginning with the classical and romantic periods, and ending with French, Russian and American music from the 20th century.

The lectures and concerts are tailored to appeal to a broad audience, from those with little listening experience to avid concert goers. They include informal verbal presentations before each set of pieces, designed to guide the audience through the pieces themselves and to highlight connections to one another.

Ian has successfully made this type of presentation to audiences in Paris during the “Paris de la Modernite” exhibit held at the Musee Petit Palais where he gave two lecture/concerts (in French) centered around French music to over 300 audience members in 2023-2024. He has also given concerts in the same presentation format (Bach Preludes and Fuges with later classical, Romantic and Modern Repertoire) at the Fondation des Etats Unis and College Franco Brittanque in the past year, and in 2022-2024 he performed at the Salle Cortot, American Cathedral in Paris, Maison du Japon, Musee JJ Henner, Centre Czech, and Maison Suedoise.

“After years of research, study and performance in France, the next stage of my project is to bring this music to a broader public and gain more experience interacting with community members by lecturing and teaching in addition to giving performances. I hope to reach as many and as diverse of Canadian audiences as possible with these presentations.”

  • Prelude: An Introduction to the Music of J.S. Bach
    Wednesday 2 October @7pm
    How do we define the fundamentals of music? If you had never heard music of any kind before, what would you need to know? All music shares two basic traits: harmony and dissonance. With works from Bach and Chopin.

    Perpetual Motion in Music
    Wednesday October 9 @7pm
    A song on the radio plays from start til finish, yet classical music pauses: between pieces, between movements, and even between measures ... or does it? Music & motion (and its absence) from Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.

    What Makes "Classical" Music
    Wednesday 16 October @7pm
    Why do we call almost 300 years of different composers "classical music"? If it's all the same, what makes those hundreds of years different from the music of today? Explore this question with Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

    CONCERT: Bach Cycle Concert 1 - 23 October @7pm
    J. S. Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 (excerpts)
    W. A. Mozart - Sonata in D Major
    Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonata in A Major, Op. 101

  • Singing in Music - Influence of choral to bel canto in Bach and Chopin
    Wednesday November 20 @7pm
    From cavemen grunting to religious chanting and later singing in all forms, using the voice is at the centre of art and communication. But how can we sing and speak without words as instrumentalists, and how do composers learn from singing?

    Point/Counterpoint - Fugues, Polyphony & Contrasts in Music
    Wednesday November 27 @7pm
    Our world is shaped by human interaction, communication between one another. We think of a song as one unified piece, but how can we learn to view music as independent voices speaking? Agreeing and disagreeing? Repeating or presenting new ideas? Learn to develop a new way of listening with Bach's Fugues and Chopin.

    Preludes and Postludes - How the 17th and 18th Centuries Predict the Future Wednesday December 4 @7pm
    The final discussion of 2024, we will finish where we started: Preludes. Preluding as improvisation and what it means to begin a cycle. Reflecting on music, the end of the year and beginning of another as we head into 2025 - and head musically into the 20th Century. (Bach, Chopin and Debussy)

    CONCERT: Wednesday December 11 @7pm
    J. S. Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier (excerpts)
    Frédéric Chopin- Etudes Op. 10
    Frédéric Chopin - Sonata in b minor, Op. 58

  • New Frontiers: Early 20th Century France and Bach
    Turning over a new year and new century, explore the French style of impressionism and its connection to what came before, as well as the historical context of the 20th Century Paris and the First World War. (Bach, Chopin, Debussy)

    Chic to Fantastique: French Visual Art, Fashion and Music; from Baroque to Gaspard de La Nuit
    Do the arts interact? Can we learn about Ravel from studying poets or painters? What about the baroque Palace of Versailles? Learn about Ravel's masterpiece Gaspard de la Nuit and its connection to art and literature. (Bach and Ravel)

    Nadia Boulanger's Musical Life: Traversing the 20th Century
    As we point toward the musical future and North America, Nadia Boulanger's life as a teacher in Paris to Aaron Copland, as well as Phillip Glass, Quincy Jones and even the Beatles is explored as a guide to changing trends which shape our present musical landscape. (Bach, Debussy, Stravinsky, Brad Meldhau/Paul McCartney).

    CONCERT: TBA

  • Jazz and Bach
    New centuries mean new styles, new continents and new influences, including African Spirituals, North American, and the eventual development of Jazz. But Bach is never far away, as explored in music by Nikolai Kapustin and Fredrich Gulda. (Bach, Gulda, Kapustin)

    Bach and America
    How does Bach's music and faith connect with the establishment of North America and the development in the 20th Century of American composers? Ned Rorem connects us to American history, Bach and Boulanger in this lecture. (Bach, Kapustin, Rorem)

    What Now? Bach and the Present
    How do we - as an audience, community and world - live with our past and present through music? Are we close to or far from our musical roots? A final discussion and exploration of our collective relationship to music, (Bach, Schoenberg and Brad Meldhau.)

    FINAL CONCERT: TBA

Ian Tomaz, pianist

Ian Tomaz first came to LAMP in 2019 to work with LAMP’s then resident pianist Walter Delahunt. He returned in 2020 for an extended residency and quickly established himself as a favourite with the locals (lucky enough to be able to attend live concerts at LAMP throughout most of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021).

Ian is returning to LAMP in 2024-25 to present this remarkable project centred on J. S. Bach and how his music has influenced music and art throughout the years.

Ian is a wonderful artist and person, and LAMP is excited to have him serving a residency once again. To learn more about Ian, please watch the video before or click the link which will take you to this bio.

Ian Tomaz performing Chopin's Op. 10 No. 4