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 Peter Schickele’s Concert Appearances

Here is a list of concert halls and performing groups who have graciously invited Peter Schickele or Prof. Schickele to present concerts in the near future, along with dates and times and helpful or informative links.  Peter Schickele’s usual touring season runs from January through May, with a few scattered concerts showing up at other times of the year.  The 2010-11 concert season is an exception;  see the News From the Prof below for details.

 
bullet Note:  It is always wise to check things out before arriving at the concert hall five minutes before curtain time; concerts sometimes materialize, or evaporate out of, or into, respectively, thin air.  To find out about the latest materializations and evaporations, when and if they happen, sign up for our mailing list. 

 

Date

Program
(link to description)

Location
(link to venue site if available)

May 23, 2010, Sunday at 3:00 p.m. P.D.Q. Bach:  An Afternoon of Musical Mayhem Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Center
220 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
312-294-3000
http://www.cso.org/
 

News From the Prof

In the middle of May, I had an epiphany. It was a few days before the last concert of 2009-10 P.D.Q Bach touring season, which was, by the way, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—what an unmitigated high!  (Everybody knows how good they are, but they were also such a pleasure to work with, and ready for anything that P.D.Q. threw at them.)

I suddenly realized that that concert would be, probably almost to the day, the fiftieth anniversary of the first time that the name P.D.Q. Bach appeared on a concert program. Naturally, since it concerns P.D.Q. Bach, it’s a little complicated, and does not follow the straight line that is usually associated with the unvarnished truth.

Here’s how it works:  Although the name P.D.Q. Bach arose in 1953, the “Sanka” Cantata, to which it was attached, was not on a program;  it was simply a tape that my brother and our friend Ernie Lloyd and I played for friends.

In May of 1959 Jorge Mester and I (and a few others) put on a humorous concert at Juilliard. Although a radically different version of the Concerto for Horn and Hardart was on the program, it was listed as being by Johann Peter Schickele.  A somewhat different version of the Quodlibet was also on the program, attributed to the various composers quoted.

In August of 1959 Jorge and I put on a similar program in Aspen.  Unfortunately, I can't find that program, but I remember that the Sinfonia Concertante that’s on the first Vanguard album was done for that concert and attributed to Giovanni Taschentuch-fils. I think that the program also featured the Tombeau de P.D.Q. Bach (now by Peter Schickele), called at that time Sonata for Violin and Piano, by P.D.Q. Bach;  it was another couple of years before I realized that the Sonata was not consistently funny enough to be P.D.Q. Bach but a bit too funny to be Peter Schickele, hence the disarmingly clever title by which it is now known.

By 1960, when it became clear that the humorous concerts at Juilliard (and Aspen) were going to become an annual tradition, I decided that these pieces I was coming up with must all be by the same composer, and the name P.D.Q. Bach took over.  Thus, although some of the music appeared in 1959, and the name was once incorrectly (the Peter Schickele Tombeau de P.D.Q. Bach) used in 1959, it is true enough that the first P.D.Q. Bach concert took place in May of 1960 at Juilliard, making 2010 the 50th anniversary of P.D.Q. Bach concerts.  Besides, it didn’t occur to me in 2009, so that’s another good reason to celebrate in 2010.

As it happens, this anniversary coincides with the seventy-fifth anniversary of my time on this earth, and I’ve decided to celebrate in truly contrarian fashion by taking the 2010-11 season off.  From performing, I mean;  there’s lots of music to be written and a couple of health issues (non life-threatening) to be dealt with, but I’m ready for a year of kicking back.  The one exception is the already-scheduled annual concert with Mikhail Horowitz and Gilles Malkine in Bearsville, New York on December 11, 2010.

Peter Schickele
June 21, 2010

 
December 11, 2010, Saturday. Peter Schickele will again join Mikhail Horowitz and Gilles Malkine in the fifth annual holiday show at the Bearsville Theatre.  Time, repertoire, additional performers and just about all the details will be announced as soon as they are worked out. Bearsville Theater
291 Tinker Street
Woodstock, New York
845-679-4406
http://www.bearsvilletheater.com/

 

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Other Concert Information

bulletAlso see Peter Schickele’s Nonappearances, concerts of Peter Schickele’s and P.D.Q. Bach’s music by other performers.

 

bulletLearn about over 40 years of P.D.Q. Bach concerts in New York, including promotional photos and historical radio advertisements.

 

bulletFind out about concerts on the radio and other radio appearances.

 

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Concert Tours

For more information about the concerts, including:

bullet descriptions of the music
bullet biographies of the performers
bullet information on how to book a concert

 

Go to the Concert Tour Information Page

 

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