Bach Society Presents Instrumental Delights

Instrumental Delights
Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord
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Instrumental Delights: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord

Program:

Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord

Sonata No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1016

Sonata No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017 

Sonata No. 5, F minor, BWV 1018

Violinist Maria Lin is from Rockland County, New York, and has degrees from the New England Convservatory and the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with James Buswell and Zvi Zeitlin, respectively. She has performed at numerous music festivals including Tanglewood, Spoleto, Sarasota, Grand Teton and the International Musician’s Seminar at Prussia Cove. As a soloist she has performed with the Rockland Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the National Repetory Orchestra, and gave her debut solo recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall sponsored by the Asian American Foundation for the Arts. She has taught privately and at the Interlochen Music Center. A  free-lancer in the Northeast for many years, she moved to Houston in 2000 and has since performed with the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, Houston Symphony, Harmonium Stellarum, American Baroque Opera Co., Mercury, Bach Society, Ars Lyrica, La Follia Austin and La Speranza.   She plays on a violin made by Giovanni Baptista Gabrieli in 1770.

Violinist Kurt Johnson has been a member of the Houston Symphony since 2001. Originally from Chicago he studied at Oberlin College and Northwestern University. His primary teachers included Marilyn McDonald, Gerardo Roberto, Almita and Roland Vamos and Rachel Barton Pine. He has been a member of the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago as well as concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. An avid baroque violinist Johnson has performed with the Bach Society of Houston as well as Ars Lyrica of Houston. Kurt is married to flutist Colleen Matheu Johnson and has two children Allegra and Luke. He loves being outdoors enjoying running, cycling, swimming and golf.

Harpsichordist Ben Kerswell is the Associate Artistic Director of Bach Society Houston. He also serves as Cantor of Christ the King Lutheran Church. Kerswell completed his Master of Music in Organ Performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University under Ken Cowan. While at St. Olaf College, a school of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, he studied organ with Dr. Catherine Rodland and previously with Joanne Rodland. As a member of the St. Olaf Choir, he served as an accompanist and as the bass section leader. While his time in the choir made a lasting impression in many ways, he is especially thankful to have found his wife Amy, now a soprano with the Bach Society Houston Choir.

An active recitalist, Ben performed as a Rising Star at the 2018 National AGO Convention in Kansas City, and he was a semi-finalist in the 2020 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance before its cancellation. He previously was Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas and the Church of St. Louis, King of France in St. Paul, Minnesota.