JS Bach's Long Walk to Snow Road Station

Tom Allen is best known as a CBC radio host, but he is also an author, a musician, and writes what he calls Chamber Musicals. He is bringing one of them, Bach's Long Walk in the Snow, to the place it was written for, even if he did not know it at the time, Snow Road, Ontario, on April 22nd.

The story, which is narrated by Allen, and performed by his musical friends and relatives, is based on a chapter in Johann Sebastian Bach's early life, before he became one of the most famous composers of the last 500 years.

The scenario is described in the concert preview:

“At 18, and in his first job as an organist, still barely beginning life as a composer but already a spectacular performer, the young genius got into such trouble that the only thing he could do was to walk away. JS Bach’s Long Walk in the Snow takes you along on that trip: a 400 km odyssey to a glittering northern port city with street fights, big business, insight, fulfillment, the father figure he didn’t know he needed and, quite possibly, love.”

“Bach's Long Walk In the Snow” has been performed in Ontario and Quebec over a number of years, and it features features Allen, harpist Lori Gemmell and multi-instrumentalist Peter Gemmell (who are Allen's wife and brother-in-law, respectively).

The show can also be adapted to feature other instruments and musicians, that Allen is able to collect along the way. For this performance, soprano Patricia O'Callaghan will be joining the ensemble, as well as Elphin's Joey Wright, on mandolin.

The Snow Road show is the first of a series of three “Long Walk” shows featuring Wright and O'Callaghan.

For tickets to the Snow Road show, Wednesday, April 22, 7:30 pm, which are $30, go to joeywright.tickit.ca.

For those who cannot make the Snow Road show, the same crew is bringing the show to St. Paul's United Church in Perth, on Thursday, April 23. Tickets for that show are available at Ticketsplease.ca – type Bach in the search bar. A final show in the series is set for Toronto, on the 24th.

For more details go to Tomtomallen.com/performances