Bluegrass Meets Baroque
Marco Real-d’Arbelles
Award-winning conductor Marco Real-d’Arbelles serves as Associate Artistic Director of the Bach Society of Minnesota and creator of "Outside the Box" series. He recently conducted sold out performances of The Cradle Will Rock with Minneapolis-based An Opera Theatre. He is also Music Director for Bold North Baroque Opera and Opera on the Lake. Born in Nicaragua, raised in Miami, where he made his debut, he has since worked with operas and orchestras in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Charles Asch
Charles Asch performs as a baroque cellist throughout Minnesota with ensembles including Bach Society of MN, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and Bach Roots Festival. He has also performed solo cello and chamber music recitals through the Twin Cities Early Music Festival, where he also got his training on baroque cello from Jaap ter Linden. He obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, as well as his Master of Music degree from Juilliard. His undergraduate studies were completed at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, in both German studies and Music Performance.
Phillip Rukavina
Lutenist Phillip Rukavina performs as a lute and vihuela soloist and as a continuo lutenist. He has appeared at many major Early Music festivals, including the Utrecht Early Music Festival (2013) and the Boston Early Music Festival (2015). Phillip performed as a soloist at the European Lute Festival in Füssen, Germany (2017) and at the Lute Society of America's WestFest in Canada. He has performed with many prominent ensembles, including the Newberry Consort, the Texas Early Music Project, the Bach Society MN and with renowned sopranos Emma Kirkby and Ellen Hargis.
Asako Hirabayashi
A harpsichordist and composer, Asako Hirabayashi's first recording on Albany Label, whose program is entirely composed and played by herself, was selected as one of the top ten albums of the year 2018 by the Global Music Awards and received 7 favorable reviews internationally. She won two McKnight Fellowships, Jerome Fund for New Music by American Composers Forum, Schubert Club Composer Award, Opera America’s Discovery Grant, MNiatures award by MN Opera and several first prizes in Alienor International Harpsichord Composition Competition. Her live performance of own composition was featured in Performance Today. She holds a DMA from the Juilliard School
Love in a Time of Hate
Immerse yourself in the gripping tragedy of “Love in a Time of Hate.” Set in a reimagined Latin American dystopia, this modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet explores the timeless themes of love in a futuristic world where unscrupulous politicians manipulate the masses to stay in power. Witness the clash between social classes as corrupt politicians satisfy their greed. Echoes of Shakespeare’s classic resonate throughout this Orwellian landscape, offering a poignant commentary on how hate continues to plague humanity into the future.
Written by William Shakespeare
Adapted by Teatro del Pueblo
Music by Bach Society of Minnesota
June 20 – 30, 2024
Luminary Theater, Luminary Arts Center
700 N 1st Street, Minneapolis
Tickets: Pay What You Can – $39
A Latino twist on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
Outside the Box Series
The focus of this series is to create dialogue and collaboration with artists inside and outside the Western European classical tradition based in Minnesota.
Bluegrass Meets Baroque
Where the refined elegance of the Baroque meets the raw, foot-stomping energy of bluegrass, this vibrant program blurs centuries and genres into something entirely fresh. Fiddles trade ornate lines once heard in the works of J.S. Bach for the driving rhythms of Appalachian tradition. The result is a thrilling musical dialogue—intricate yet spontaneous—revealing surprising kinships between these two traditions. Expect dazzling virtuosity, inventive arrangements, and a joyful reimagining of music that proves great artistry knows no boundaries of time or style.
Seeds of Culture
Co-creators: Marcoantonio Real-d’Arbelles and Hip Hop and Spoken Word artist See More Perspective
November 17, 2023, Friday | 7:30 PM
Sacred Heart Music Center
201 W 4th Street, Duluth
Tickets: In Advance $20 | At the Door $25
Tickets go on sale on September 29.
Presented by Sacred Heart Music Center and University of Minnesota Duluth.
Baroque and Hip Hop in Conversation and Cross-Pollination
February 7, 2027, Sunday | 3:00 PM
Sundin Music Hall at Hamline University
1531 Hewitt Ave, St. Paul
Tickets: Pay What You Can