Mobile mini-concerts are part of Minnesota Bach Festival events

It's like DoorDash, but delivering live music instead of food. Or you could call it comparable to caroling, but not at Christmastime.

Such are the Bach Society of Minnesota's "Mobile Mini-Concerts," which have been bringing baroque music to parks, libraries and doorsteps since soon after the pandemic began, via singers and solo instrumentalists.

The idea was hatched in Montreal, where the Bach Society's artistic director, Matthias Maute, leads a group called Ensemble Caprice.

"Just breaking through the silence and breaking through the solitude," Maute said from Montreal. "It was so successful that 100,000 people have been recipients here in Quebec and Ontario."

An internationally renowned baroque flutist and recorder player born in Germany, Maute has led the Bach Society since 2016. He's been encouraging the organization to meet audiences where they are, and the "Mobile Mini-Concerts" do that in a more than metaphorical sense.

The Bach Society will be presenting three days' worth next week as part of its Minnesota Bach Festival, which runs through June 1. This weekend, singers are invited to participate in a community singalong of music by Antonio Vivaldi before performing it with the society's chorus and orchestra the following night. Throw in a festival-closing concert designed for all ages, and it seems this 92-year-old organization is putting out the welcome mat.

A schedule of times and locations for "Mobile Mini-Concerts" can be found at bachsocietymn.org. It's also possible to request to have a concert delivered to your door or in your garden.

"It's always outdoors, and that's the main thing, that musicians leave the privileged ivory tower of the concert hall and go where people are," Maute said. "The point from the beginning is for musicians to see: Does our music really do something for people? Test it with reality and unprepared situations and none of the background that we assume people have if they come to concert halls."

Singer and guitarist Gary Ruschman (a former member of vocal group Cantus) said the concerts were indispensable early in the pandemic.

"For those of us whose performing careers felt very much up in the air due to fear and lockdowns, having an open-air way to get in front of audiences was an enormous boon, both artistically and for the financial peace of mind," he said. "I know all of us participants in those first couple of years were grateful that the Bach Society had the courage and creativity to try something like this."

Flutist Anita Rieder said that she relishes the connections she makes with listeners, particularly children. And the Bach Society's associate artistic director, violinist Marco Real-d'Arbelles, said it has created some lasting memories.

"I was at one of the Minneapolis parks for a mini-concert," he said. "There were families enjoying the day and children at the playground. A man who'd been having a picnic with his girlfriend came up to me and explained that he was about to propose. Would I be willing to help? So the mini-concert helped set the mood. At the end of the performance, the man got down on one knee, luckily she said yes, and the cars that had stopped to witness the scene honked in celebration."

Minnesota Bach Festival

Community Vivaldi singalong: 6:30 p.m. Fri., St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 1079 Summit Av., St. Paul, free.

Vivaldi's "Gloria" and "Magnificat" and a J.S. Bach cantata: 7:30 p.m. Sat., St. Thomas More, $5-$35; 4 p.m. Sun., Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., free will donation.

Mobile Mini-Concerts: May 23-25; various locations in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Rochester, Winona, Duluth, Burnsville, Stillwater and St. Cloud, free.

"One Night in the Fairy Forest": 7 p.m. May 31, 3 p.m. June 1, 480 Arts, 480 N. Prior Av., St. Paul, free-will donation.

Visit bachsocietymn.org for tickets and details.

Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. Reach him at wordhub@yahoo.com.