Photo by Kristen Loken
When Ton Koopman heads the San Francisco Symphony's two-week celebration of Bach, in one series of concerts, prominent members of the orchestra will be featured as soloists.
Associate Principal Cellist Peter Wyrick plays the solo in C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A Major, and Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye is up front for J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 51, with soprano Carolyn Sampson.
Wyrick has held the position since 1999, the chair now endowed by Peter and Jacqueline Hoefer. He has appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony numerous times, including performances of the “Meditations” from Bernstein's Mass, Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante, and Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger Concerto.
In addition to his orchestral work, Wyrick is also an active soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Before joining the San Francisco Symphony, Wyrick was the principal cellist of the Mostly Mozart Orchestra at Lincoln Center and the associate principal cellist of the New York City Opera Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Wyrick has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Jeremy Denk, Julia Fischer, Edgar Meyer, and others.
Inouye holds the William G. Irwin Charity Foundation Chair. Both a classical and jazz musician, he has held principal trumpet positions with the Houston and Charleston Symphonies and has performed with the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic. He made his San Francisco Symphony solo debut performing in Copland’s Quiet City in 2010. Inouye played with the Empire Brass Quintet, which toured the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Canada.
Photo by Terrence McCarthy
He is an active composer and has released his debut jazz album, The Trumpet & The Bull. Most recently, Inouye was featured in SFS performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, both at Davies Symphony Hall and on the orchestra’s European tour to Birmingham, London, Paris, Geneva, Dortmund, Luxembourg, Prague, and Vienna. He appears with the SFS April 24-26 in Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1, conducted by James Conlon, with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist.
During the Bach series, organist Martin Haselböck and violinist Christian Tetzlaff appear in solo recitals.
The second week of performances with Koopman, May 8-10, focuses on works that J.S. Bach composed during his 27-year tenure as director of music in the principal churches of Leipzig, where he remained until his death in 1750. Koopman leads the orchestra in Bach’s Cantata No. 207a, Auf, schmetternde Töne der Muntern Trompeten, and the SFS Chorus joins the orchestra in the Kyrie and Gloria from the Bach Mass in B minor. The soloists in these concerts are soprano Teresa Wakim, mezzo-soprano Bogna Bartosz, tenor Tilman Lichdi, and bass Klaus Mertens.