A Focus on the Humanities Lecture and Performance with Edward Klorman and Parry Karp
The six suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach—once dismissed as mere curiosities—are now revered as iconic works. They are performed worldwide by cellists of all ages, and they are moreover prominently used in pop culture such as film and television as well as in expressions of humanitarian advocacy. In this special Focus on the Humanities talk, Edward Klorman illustrates how and why Bach conceptualized this highly innovative music and tells the unlikely story of how the Cello Suites went from near obscurity to becoming the celebrated works that define the sound of the instrument. Parry Karp performs selections from the Cello Suites, showing how Bach created rich harmonies and counterpoint using a single instrument.
This special event and performance is presented in partnership with the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, a community of musicians, scholars, and teachers. Since its beginning in 1895, the School of Music has lived out a commitment to a student-centered musical education.
This event will also be streamed on the Mead Witter School of Music YouTube channel.
Copies of Professor Edward Klorman’s book, Bach: The Cello Suites, will be sold at the event by A Room of One’s Own. For more, you can listen to Professor Klorman discuss his book.
Edward Klorman is Professor of Music at UW–Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. Active at the intersection of music analysis, historical musicology, and music performance, he is the author most recently of Bach: The Cello Suites. His previous book, Mozart’s Music of Friends: Social Interplay in the Chamber Works, explores metaphors of sociability and “conversation” in the performance of Mozart’s chamber music. It received major awards from ASCAP, the Mozart Society of America, and the Society for Music Theory. An accomplished violist specializing in chamber music, he has performed as guest artist with the Borromeo, Orion, and Ying Quartets and with the Lysander Trio.
Cellist Parry Karp is Artist-in Residence and the Graebner Professor of Chamber Music and Cello, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is director of the string chamber music program. He has been cellist of the Pro Arte Quartet for the past 51 years, the longest tenure of any member in the quartet’s over 100 year history. Karp is an active solo artist, performing numerous recitals annually in the United States, and has recorded six solo CDs. Unearthing and performing unjustly neglected repertoire for cello is a passion of Karp’s. In recent years he has transcribed for cello many masterpieces written for other instruments.