Bach’s Lunch: Making Magic with Ken Burns (Jacqueline Schwab lecture)

Description

Pianist Jacqueline Schwab spins musical stories out of the myriad strands in the American quilt and with the spirit of community music making at their heart. Her signature playing features in over a dozen of Ken Burns’ documentaries, including his Grammy-winning Civil War, Baseball, Lewis and Clark, Mark Twain, The War and Benjamin Franklin, as well as The Irish in America—The Long Journey Home and other PBS documentaries. She has performed at the White House for President Clinton and twice on PBS with the American Pops Orchestra and has accompanied Scottish singer Jean Redpath on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion and on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman. As a solo pianist, she has performed vintage music in almost every state of the Union. She is well known to the traditional dance world for her groundbreaking playing with the Bare Necessities ensemble. Her recently-released solo album I Lift My Lamp—Illuminations from Immigrant America celebrates vintage music from American immigrants. A recent project has been a collaboration with Alliance for New Music-Theatre, Washington, DC, where Jacqueline performed Ukrainian traditional music to accompany readings of recently translated plays about the war in Ukraine. Jacqueline graduated from New England Conservatory, majoring in piano improvisation. She grew up in Pittsburgh and has since lived in Boston and on Cape Cod. Making Magic with Ken Burns, featuring pieces from Jacqueline’s Burns soundtrack performances, as well as pieces from her own work inspired by Ken’s piercing window into American history. From Burns’ documentaries, you will hear Jacqueline’s interpretation of Jay Ungar’s well-loved “Ashokan Farewell”, along with well-known vintage American standards, such as “Be Thou My Vision”, “Tenting on the Old Campground” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, as well as lesser-known period tunes, such as the traditional Scottish “Sae Merry As We Hae Been”. Jacqueline speaks about Ken’s unusual way of working with music—how he elicits emotive performances and uses music to amplify his messages and shed historical light on our lives today. This event will be held in our historic Recital Hall. It is free of charge and open to the public, thanks in part to the generosity of the Walker Fund. Donations are appreciated.