Will music survive? This, of all the questions dredged up from the darker corners of the past year, might be the one that loomed largest in the minds of musicians. Is music essential? Is music possible? What is music? With “O Marvelous Art,” a showcase of two masterworks by J.S. Bach that exist at the intersections of human vulnerability, ingenuity, virtuosity, and soulfulness, Filament grapples with these questions and poses a rousing defense of this most essential Art. Summoned from the very root of being and encompassing the breadth of human experience — its darkness and light and the grey areas in between — Music embodies, and ultimately affirms, life itself. “O Marvelous Art” celebrates music’s power to unify and uplift and its resurgence as we move collectively into a new phase of life, shared once again.

Since our founding, in 2019, we of Filament have been devoted to plumbing the depths of our core trio repertoire. We love and are fascinated by this music and love seeing how much it moves and inspires our audiences. We’ve grown so much as an ensemble over the past two years and are more confident than ever in what we have to offer, and ever more excited about the work that lies ahead. And though refining our core ensemble’s skills and mission will always be central to our work, we want to share and spread our love for what we do and look forward to growing into a home base for collaborations within Philadelphia's vibrant early music community. 

And so, to launch our third season, Filament will team up with soprano Rebecca Myers and some of the East Coast’s finest period instrument soloists in its first-ever collaborative production, “O Marvelous Art,” coming on October 1, 2021. The program pairs two dazzling tours de force of  J.S. Bach: the luminous wedding cantata, “O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit,” a poignant meditation on human love and humanity’s need for music; and the effervescent Brandenburg Concerto no. 5, a sort of wedding-party champagne toast to both. The lovely sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church in Germantown will provide space for the performance, and the church’s celebrated 1946 feminist murals by Philadelphia artist Violet Oakley, including her portrayal of the Wedding at Cana, will engage the program’s themes in a visual dialogue. We hope to perform “O Marvelous Art” for a live, in-house audience, to the extent possible according to municipal ordinances related to the Covid-19 pandemic, but will also record the production and offer it as a virtual concert for friends near and far to enjoy. 

 In order to bring this ambitious plan to life and shine the brightest-possible light on the marvelous art of music, we need your help! Your contribution will embolden our imaginations and enable us to pay our colleagues for their time and talents, and further help defray the operational costs of mounting this larger-scale, in-person/virtual hybrid production. We cannot do this without you. Please join us in this celebration and help us expand the Filament family!