VDB performs Bach concertos and cantatas for the opening of the 2026 Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival
The opening concert of the 2026 Keynote Festival is a celebration of JS Bach’s vocal and instrumental music, performed by Van Diemen’s Band and featuring guest tenor Kyle Steggall.
Program highlights include arias from Wo soll ich fliehen hin (Where shall I flee) BWV 5 and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Now come, savior of the Gentiles) BWV 62, and excerpts from the Orchestral Suite in B minor BWV 1067.
About the artists
KYLE STEGALL, TENOR
American-born tenor Kyle Stegall is a renowned interpreter of baroque and classical repertoire on both opera and concert stages. In 2025, Kyle made his Australian mainstage debut as Belmonte in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with Victorian Opera.
Kyle’s concert credits include the tenor solos in Bach’s Magnificat and Mass in B minor, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in C minor, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Beethoven’s Mass in C major, Haydn’s Creation, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music and the Evangelists in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion.
In the operatic sphere, Kyle specialises in bringing rarely-performed works to life. He has sung the title role in Charpentier’s Actéon, Hippolyte in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, Vistola in Caccini’s Alcina, Tommaso in Schwendinger’s Artemisia, Glauco in Ziani’s La Circe, and Martín y Soler’s L’arbore di Diana. He has also performed Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Little Bat in Floyd’s Susannah.
Kyle’s extensive list of collaborators include the American Bach Soloists, Angelus Consort San Diego, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Bach Society Houston, Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Bach Festival Winter Park, Grosse Point Symphony, St. Louis Bach Society, Boulder Philharmonic, Albuquerque Symphony, Baltimore Handel Society, Hartford Symphony, San Francisco Bach Ensemble and Detroit Symphonia.
As a recording artist, Kyle has been featured on commercial releases from the Boston Early Music Festival (as Aquilon in Henry Desmarest’s Circé) and the American Bach Soloists (Messiah in Grace Cathedral). His album Visions with Centaur Records features a number of works by living composers, while Myrtle and Rose, a compilation of songs by Robert and Clara Schumann for Avie Records, showcases a Viennese fortepiano built the same year as the songs’ composition.
Partners
| Soloist | Kyle Stegall, tenor |
| Van Diemen's Band | Julia Fredersdorff, Artistic Director & Baroque violin) Jennifer Owen, Baroque violin Katie Yap, Baroque viola Natasha Kraemer, Baroque cello Jessica Lee, traverso Luis Tasso Athayde Santos, Baroque oboe Laura Vaughan, violone Simon Martyn-Ellis, theorbo Donald Nicolson, chamber organ |
Event and ticketing details
Date & Time
| Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival 2026 Concert One |
Thu 22 October 6.00pm |
Tickets
| Festival passes now on sale |
Location
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