Bach Collegium Japan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bach Collegium Japan | |
|---|---|
 Bach Collegium Japan with Masaaki Suzuki at the BBC Proms in 2024 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | BCJ |
| Origin | Japan |
| Years active | 1990-present |
| Website | bachcollegiumjapan |
Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ) is composed of an orchestra and a chorus specializing in Baroque music, playing on period instruments. It was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki with the purpose of introducing Japanese audiences to European Baroque music; Suzuki is still the music director. The ensemble has recorded all of Bach’s cantatas, a project that extended from 1995 to 2018 and accounts for over half of its discography.
The ensemble was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki who is still its music director[1][2] Since then, they have become sought-after performers,[3] collaborating with European artists such as Max van Egmond, Nancy Argenta, Christoph Prégardien, Peter Kooy, Hana Blažíková, Monika Frimmer, Michael Chance, Kai Wessel, Gerd Türk, Michael Schopper and Concerto Palatino.[1]
They have toured Asia, Europe and North America, with many performances as cultural festivals such as Edinburgh Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Festival Internacional Cervantino[4] the Bach Festival in Leipzig, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival[4][5] and the BBC Proms.[6]
Five years after the Collegium was founded, they began a project to record all the Bach cantatas, finishing in 2013.[4][7] Working with Swedish record label BIS,[2][8] the work was performed at a Christian chapel at Kobe University, one of the few Christian churches in the country large enough to properly perform such works.[8] These recordings account for over half of the ensemble's 99-album discography.[9]
The ensemble
The Collegium is based in Tokyo and Kobe, with the aim of introducing Japanese audiences to Baroque music on period instruments.[1] It consists of a Baroque orchestra and chorus with about twenty voices and about 25 instrumentalists at any given performance.[10] Unlike most Japanese orchestras, it has some female section-leaders, and it draws on a hand-picked group of European instrumentalists. The vocal soloists are also a mix of Japanese and foreign, Suzuki's argument being that if the Collegium employed only Europeans, there would be little to distinguish it from other period ensembles.[8]
Masaaki Suzuki
Masaaki Suzuki (b. 1954)[2] founded the collegium after being invited to inaugurate a hall in Osaka, bringing together two ensembles already under his direction.[8] Suzuki is a pioneer of early-music performance in East Asia and an international Bach authority.[2] He graduated Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and later attended the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, studying under Piet Kee and Ton Koopman.[8][10]
