Bach & Telemann II: Coffee and a Dead Canary

A caffeine-fuelled dose of charm.

A caffeine-fuelled dose of charm - Bach's Coffee Cantata, Telemann's Canary Cantata and Bernier's Le Caffé are reimagined as a cheeky 75-minute triple bill bursting with comic characters, irresistible music and theatrical flair. Think 1950s glamour, sparkling wit and just the right amount of delightful absurdity. It's playful, stylish and impossible to resist.

Bach's Coffee Cantata celebrates caffeine's most devoted fan in a comic battle of wills between an independent daughter and her exasperated father. Telemann's Canary Cantata transforms the loss of a beloved pet into an unexpectedly touching miniature, while Bernier's Le Caffé completes the evening with an irreverent tribute to everyone's favourite pick-me-up.

Director Eugene Lynch and designer Melanie Liertz brought these three miniature gems together in one gloriously imaginative world, where one story tumbles effortlessly into the next. Filled with playful surprises, visual wit and theatrical invention, this joyous production was pure escapism: funny, inventive and sent audiences home smiling.

Program

Nicolas Bernier
Le Caffé "Coffee" (from volume 3 of cantates françoises)

Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin
Flute Concerto in E minor
Flautist: Melissa Farrow

Georg Phillip Telemann
Trauer-Musik eines Kunsterfahrenen Canarienvogels
"Funeral Music for an artistically skilled Canary" (TWV 20:37)

Johann Sebastian Bach
Kaffeekantate "Coffee Cantata" (BWV 211)