For the 19th Annual Bach Festival, expect a twist.
“Mostly Mozart 2026” headlines a week of noon recitals accompanied by the famous Bach’s Lunch where music lovers convene over soup, salad and various delicacies, and a big finale March 14. Originally planned to mark the March birthday of one of the world’s greatest composers, the popular chamber music series has taken a turn toward Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart this year.
If you go
WHAT: 19th annual Durango Bach Festival, featuring San Juan Symphony musicians, 20MOONS Dance Theater, in a series of concerts, performances and the Bach’s Lunch
WHEN: Sunday through March 14
WHERE: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave.
TICKETS: All-festival pass $130 or individual event tickets – $35 weekday concert with lunch, $25 no lunch, $15 students with lunch, $5 no lunch. Finale Concert: $30 adult, $10 students.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.sanjuansymphony.org or call 382-9753
“We’ve been on a beautiful journey with Mozart lately,” San Juan Symphony Music Director Thomas Heuser said. “The orchestra has been celebrating its 40th year by celebrating the 270th anniversary of Mozart’s birth (1756-1791) with special programming that will extend into next year. So why not fold Mozart into the annual spring chamber series and complete a circle?”
All events take place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on East Third Avenue.
The 2026 festival opens with two free recitals on Sunday. Co-sponsored by the Symphony and the Four Corners Music Teachers Association, two different groups of young musicians will perform works by Mozart and probably some by Johann Sebastian Bach. If you’ve never attended the student recitals, here’s a chance to witness the future of classical music. Like our regional orchestra, the 4CMTA program shines a welcome beacon of light on a cultural future that seems perilous in our troubling times. The annual Bach Festival consistently proves itself to be a rich, rewarding and innovative way to point to a better future. In modern parlance, this is a feel-good enterprise.
After the free student recitals, the rest of the week is ticketed and focuses on the popular lunchtime concerts. It all culminates in a big finale with a celebratory reception March 14.
“The daily programs, Monday through Friday at noon, are a perfect way to break up a busy work day and share a delicious meal with fellow music lovers,” Heuser said. “Manna soup kitchen will cater each meal. Taken together, the five unique concerts provide a hugely varied and artistically rich experience. They feature more than 25 local musicians and include string players, woodwinds, keyboards, vocalists, handbells and more.”
Among the highlights this year include: Monday’s flute quartet, a violin sonata and the St. Paul’s Handbell Choir; Tuesday’s Four-Hand Piano Sonata and the Kegelstatt Trio for clarinet, viola and piano; Wednesday’s “Dissonance” Quartet; Thursday’s mixture of Mozart and Bach, with strings, flutes, voice and piano; and Friday’s Clarinet Quintet.
“The Festival Finale will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 14,” Heuser said. “The program is called ‘Eine Kleine Sacred Music.’ It will feature a string orchestra performing Mozart’s most famous musical gem, his G Major Serenade, better known as ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.’”
And in an inspired addition, Heuser said: “The SJS Chamber Singers will be featured in selections of Mozart’s sacred choral music, including his beloved ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ and the ‘Lacrimosa’ from his unfinished Requiem Mass.”
Everyone is invited to the reception March 14 hosted by the Symphony’s Bravo Brigade In the St. Mark’s Fellowship Hall.
At 7 p.m. Friday, pianist Holly Quist will give a faculty recital at Fort Lewis College with an unusual title: “Purple and Shadow.” The poster features her portrait submerged in giant, Georgia O’Keeffe flowers with a promise to perform works by Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert and Mozart.
Quist will open with Mozart’s Piano Sonata No 11 in A major followed by Brahms’ Six Pieces for Piano and finally Schubert’s Piano Sonata in C minor.
Like the annual Bach Festival this year, which explores the connections between the Baroque master and Mozart, Quist’s recital promises to explore connections “the Romantic undercurrents and influential legacies woven through classical masterworks,” she writes in her press materials.
“Drawing on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s claim that Mozart was among the first Romanticists,” Quits promises to illuminate the “purple patches” in Mozart’s Piano Sonata then continue with Brahms and Schubert.
As a member of the FLC Music Department, she invites audience members “to discover the Romantic spirit and artistic lineages that connect these beloved composers.”
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and free to FLC students or anyone younger than 18.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
