Berkshire Bach announces EVENING IN THE PALACE OF REASON with James R. Gaines and Eugene Drucker, March 9, in Lenox
Great Barrington, February 18, 2025: The Berkshire Bach Society (BBS) and Artistic Director Eugene Drucker are pleased to present the fourth event in its quarterly BBS Portals series: EVENING IN THE PALACE OF REASON—Bach meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment with distinguished author James R. Gaines and members of the Berkshire Bach Ensemble at 3pm on Sunday, March 9 at the Lenox Town Hall. The program focuses on the real-life events in 1747 that prompted Bach to create his late masterpiece, The Musical Offering, BWV 1079, and includes a live performance, a book reading by the author, and a general conversation led by Eugene Drucker. Berkshire Bach Ensemble musicians perform the trio sonata from The Musical Offering, with Eugene Drucker, Violin | Judith Mendenhall, Flute | Roberta Cooper, Cello | Kenneth Weiss, Harpsichord.
“Where does genius get its inspiration?” asks Terrill McDade, Executive Director of the Berkshire Bach Society. “In our BBS Portals series, we think about that as we look at Bach and his circle from many different perspectives. This time we see him confronting a very personal challenge. We watch as he develops a creative response that stuns his skeptics—and gives the world an incomparable musical gift still relevant today. Author Jim Gaines has created a fascinating portrait of Bach that inspires a new appreciation for his genius. The book describes the divided intellectual environment of the time and reveals the tensions between different world views in the characters of Bach and Frederick the Great. The live performance powerfully brings the genius home to us all.”
James R. Gaines is a journalist, historian, and celebrated author. He is a former managing editor of Time, Life, and People magazines, and has held various positions at Reuters, from editor-at-large, to editor-in-charge of global photography, to global editor for ethics and standards. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Historical Association, the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Overseas Press Club, and the Online News Association.
Join Berkshire Bach, Artistic Director Eugene Drucker, and author James R. Gaines for EVENING IN THE PALACE OF REASON at 3pm on Sunday, March 9, at the Lenox Town Hall. Tickets: $45 Nonmembers | $40 Berkshire Bach Members | $10 Card to Culture | Children and Students with valid ID admitted free of charge. Visit www.berkshirebach.org/events for more information.
The Berkshire Bach Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization under the U.S. tax code and the oldest, continuously operating, membership-based music organization in the Berkshires. Donations to the Society are deductible to the full extent of the law.