A unique musical performance comes to Jasper

A once in a lifetime opportunity will knock on the door for Jasperites when Josephine van Lier of Edmonton comes to the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives to perform six suites of unaccompanied Johann Sebastian Bach on four cellos on Sunday April 12.

“It’s such a unique opportunity to hear all six suites performed... I really wanted to play all six, and that’s rarely done,” she said suggesting the opportunity was more likely, “if you live in Amsterdam or New York City, you might hear it once in your life, it’s that kind of rare.”

“I’ll play two suites and have a short intermission,” she said, adding she is more than happy for people to come and experience as many of the suites as they wish. The cellist will play the six suites in order, with the first, third and fifth each commencing on the hour, all starting at 1 p.m.

The cellist, whose husband Erik Visser is a Jasper Artist Guild member and will have his artwork on display during the concert, said she feels a “strong affinity with Baroque music and especially Bach music.”

“For every cellist Bach suites are the greatest piece ever written for unaccompanied cello. They’re very hard, but they’re the staple of every cellist,” she said.

She will play the first and fourth suite on her modern cello, which was built in 1870, the second and fifth suites will be played on a Baroque cello which was made in Bach time and is played with a Baroque bow, with the third suite played on a carbon fibre cello and the sixth on a five string piccolo cello, which is one of just two in the country.

According to van Lier it will be evident to the audience “how instruments have changed over time. It’s all music by the same composer, but it’s very much influenced by the instrument that you play.”

“How I played a piece and how I interpret things changed a lot depending on what instrument I had,” she said.

While audience members will be taken on a historical journey as van Lier explains the different instruments as she plays each suite, the cellist said the main purpose of the concert was “just sharing the love of the music, because it’s such beautiful music and... it’s so powerful regardless of the instrument.”

Tickets for the event will be on sale at the door for $20 and the opening for Visser’s exhibit is April 10 at 8:30 p.m.