Simone Dinnerstein (in front of the piano) and Baroklyn at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall in New York City on Oct. 21, 2025.
credit: David Chiu
It was an evening of Johann Sebastian Bach when the acclaimed classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein recently performed with her large string ensemble, Baroklyn, at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall in New York City. The material drew from the players’ most recent collaborative album, Complicité, which translates from French as “togetherness,” and the title perfectly summed up the mood inside the hall from this past Tuesday.
In her liner notes for Complicité, Dinnerstein — who is no stranger to interpreting Bach, having previously achieved recognition for her popular 2007 recording of the composer’s “Goldberg Variations” — wrote: “I’m very interested in irregularities within Bach’s music. There is so much variation in his writing, and each voice is saying something slightly different, yet all of the voices are speaking simultaneously. It is dense music to play and dense to hear.”
“My biggest goal is to be able to communicate,” she continued, “and hear those different voices, through differentiation of timbre, agogic distortion of rhythms, ebb and flow of tempo, and emphasis on the moments of expressive intervallic leaps and harmonic dissonances that jump out from the page.”
Dinnerstein certainly achieved that goal through her direction of Baroklyn from her grand piano during the Merkin Hall concert, as the players performed several Bach pieces from Complicité, beginning with “Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf,” BWV 617, and through his “Keyboard Concerto in E Major,” BWV 1053, and “Der Leib war in der Erden,” from “Komm, du süße Todesstunde,” BWV 161. Those performances showcased both Dinnerstein’s dazzling piano work, which combined grace and virtuosic intensity, and the sublime playing of Baroklyn, which boasted 10-plus members on various string instruments.
The second half of the program was dominated by the players’ interpretation of Bach’s
“Vergnügte Ruh, beleibte Seelenlust,” BWV 170, accompanied by mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano (who also appeared on Complicité) and oboist Katherine Needleman. The piece “In the Air,” written by the composer Philipp Lasser and drawn from the “Air on the G String” from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, brought the night and adulation from the audience inside the hall.
“We have a plan, but are open to the moment,” Dinnerstein explained in her notes in complicite. “This way of making music is dependent upon listening, openness to change, and trust. It results in a feeling of togetherness.” The intimacy and vibrancy of last Tuesday’s concert conveyed a sense of unity between Dinnerstein and Brooklyn, as well as between the performers and the audience.
Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn with Jennifer Johnson Cano (standing fourth from the left, stage left) and Katherine Needleman (standing second from the left, stage left) at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall in New York City on Oct. 21, 2025.
credit: David Chiu
Setlist:
Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. by Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn): “Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf,” BWV 617
Johann Sebastian Bach: “Keyboard Concerto in E Major,” BWV 1053
- Allegro
- Siciliano
- Allegro
Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. by Simone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn): “Der Leib war in der Erden, from Komm, du süße Todesstunde,” BWV 161
Johann Sebastian Bach: “Vergnügte Ruh, beleibte Seelenlust,” BWV 170
- Vergnügte Ruh, beleibte Seelenlust
- Die Welt, Das Sundenhaus
- Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen
- Wer sollte sich demnach work hier
- Mir ekelt, mehr zu leben
Johann Sebastian Bach/Philip Lasser: “In the Air”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidchiu/2025/10/25/simone-dinnerstein-and-baroklyn-go-all-bach-in-new-york-city/
