A collaboration with flutist Emi Ferguson, Fly the Coop is a joyous, kaleidoscopic romp through some of Bach’s most playful and transcendent works. The program features new arrangements of Bach’s Flute Sonatas and Keyboard Preludes, orchestrated for baroque flute and the forces of Ruckus that include theorbos, baroque guitars, baroque bassoon, cello, viola da gamba, harpsichord, organ, bass, and the occasional banjo.

Ruckus explodes Bach’s bass lines into a rainbow of textures and colors, continually shifting like light over the landscape as Ferguson’s flute lines dance above. Contrasting the three flute sonatas are new arrangements of a variety of Bach’s keyboard preludes, with selections ranging from the beloved Well Tempered Clavier to alternate movements from keyboard suites that are rarely performed.

Emi Ferguson, flute; Clay Zeller-Townson, baroque bassoon; Coleman Itzkoff, baroque cello; Paul Holmes Morton, theorbo/baroque guitar/banjo; Doug Balliett, bass; Adam Cockerham, theorbo/baroque guitar; Elliott Figg, harpsichord/organ

Fly the Coop 
Bach: Prelude in G Major (after BWV 884)
Bach: Sonata in E Minor, BWV 1034
Bach: Prelude in E Minor (after BWV 855)
Bach: Sonata in E Major, BWV 1035
Bach: Prelude in G Minor (after BWV 847a)
Bach: Prelude in C Minor (after BWV 999)
Bach: Prelude in C Major Sonata in C Major, BWV 1033
Bach: Prelude in E Major (after BWV 815a)