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Cellist Jean Hatmaker will play Bach's Solo Cello Suites 4, 5 and 6 in a concert titled "Ancora"  on Saturday, August 1, at 7pm, at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest. The concert will be livestreamed on the Bach Cantata Vespers YouTube channel. In-person attendance will be limited to 50 people; register  here to attend in person.

Ancora is a multifaceted Latin word which all at once means anchor, support, hope, and refuge. It is a fitting title for this concert, which is a follow-up to Jean’s March 28 livestream performance of Bach first three cello suites. That concert, in the early days of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order was titled "Solus."

From the artist: Having spent months learning to live safely in a new way, bearing unfamiliar challenges, and finding innovative ways to stay afloat and stay inspired, we now find ourselves feeling the weight of the times and facing the sinking realization that the road may yet be longer ahead than it is behind us. Whereas Solus was about loss, solitude, contemplation, and comfort, Ancora resonates with a slightly different tone: facing fears and challenges, stamina, faith, and hope.

Bach’s Cello Suites 4, 5 and 6 pose exceptional challenges for the player: number 4 is in the unwieldy key of E flat major,  5 uses non-traditional string tuning, and  6 was written for a cello with five strings. As a result, these latter suites make significantly fewer appearances in performance, and it’s rarer still to hear them all performed back-to-back by one player.

Join us on August 1 at 7 pm, for this very special occasion concert, in honor of all we face together.

An offering will be collected to benefit the Harmony Food Pantry of North Lawndale.