CELEBRATING BACH’S 300TH BIRTHDAY

Celebrations of the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach have been ongoing since last fall and continue through next season. But his actual birthday is this week, on Thursday.

Oddly enough, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which began this season with performances of the B-minor Mass, happens to be on vacation this week--due to the annual, pre-Oscar week vacating of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center. As a result, no Philharmonic observance of the birthday is forthcoming.

Some of our other musical fiefdoms have entered the breach, however. Here is a sampling of their offerings.

Christopher Hogwood, an acknowledged specialist in music of the Baroque, and by now a frequent visitor to local podiums, arrives at Ambassador Auditorium, Thursday, with his Academy of Ancient Music.

Appropriately, the 30-member troupe, soon to conclude its first United States tour, will give a Bach program consisting of the Ouverture in D, BWV 1068; the “Wedding” Cantata (No. 202); the Cantata, “Ich habe genug,” and the D-minor Concerto for two violins.

“A nine-member chamber group from the Academy came over last season,” Hogwood acknowledged, from his current stop, in Boston, last week. But this early-spring tour, ending in San Antonio Saturday, is the first visit here by the complete authentic-instrument ensemble.

“The instruments themselves are actually authentic, either original instruments or facsimiles. We tune at A equals 415, or half a step down from modern tuning.

“That figure is not arbitrary, as some think, but has been arrived at because of the nature of the wind instruments we have. After all, one must tune to the winds. But I think entirely too much has been made of Baroque pitch. Pitch is really irrelevant.”

Tempo is another matter, Hogwood averred.

“We take the tempos the 18th Century recommended. That is, the dance movements, for example, need an exact tempo which fits each specific dance. Of course, the range is very limited; we hope it’s limited. Will you be surprised by our tempos? Well, I can’t speak for your surprise. . . .”

Also Thursday, at historic St. Vibiana’s Cathedral (at 2nd and Main streets, downtown), a Bach birthday concert will feature organist Jelil Romano, harpsichordist Patrick Lindley, the Huntington Ensemble and vocal soloists.

At USC, the University Early Music Ensemble, led by Frank Basile, offers, at 8 the same night, in the University Church, a program titled “Happy 300th Birthday, J.S. Bach.”

Friday night, harpsichordist Malcolm Hamilton and cellist Gabor Rejto note the Bach anniversary with a Bach program in Hancock Auditorium at 8.

And March 31, the Choir and Orchestra of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Westwood, conducted by James Vail, will present, in English, Bach’s “Passion According to St. John,” with, among other soloists, Michael Sells and Charles Roe. This performance, at the church (580 Hilgard Ave.), begins at 4 p.m.

OJAI ‘85: Among the participants in the 39th Ojai Festival (May 31-June 2) will be the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Tokyo Quartet, pianist Yvonne Loriod and soprano Lucy Shelton. The annual Ojai weekend, under its latest music director, Kent Nagano, will in 1985 be a tribute to Olivier Messiaen, the 76-year old French composer.

Opening event, May 31 at 8:30 p.m., will be a recital by Loriod (Mme. Messiaen); the second concert, June 1 at 1 p.m., will be an appearance by the Tokyo Quartet. The evening of June 1, L.A. Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Nagano, will play a program centered about Messiaen’s “From the Canyons to the Stars,” a work Nagano introduced to the Bay Area recently.

The morning of June 2, Shelton, with pianist Lambert Orkis, will sing a recital including Messiaen’s “Chants de terre et de ciel,” as well as songs by Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Ives. LACO, Loriod and Nagano perform together, at 5:30 p.m., June 2, for the festival’s closing event, a concert devoted to Messiaen’s “Trois petites Liturgies de la Presence Divine,” Bartok’s “Three Village Scenes” and Mozart’s Symphony No. 28.

For information: (805) 646-2094.

WILTERN: As earlier rumored, the newly renovated Wiltern Theatre at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue will reopen, May 1-5, with a seven-performance engagement by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The engagement will take place under the auspices of the UCLA Center for the Arts. As yet, management of the 30-member troupe has not announced programming from its 150-work repertory. Such an announcement, along with casting, is promised for the near future.

PEOPLE: Renata Scotto makes two local appearances this week. The Italian soprano sings a recital of Italian music in Royce Hall, Friday night at 8, then returns, next Sunday evening, also at 8, on a program she shares with the Tokyo Quartet. . . . And the 15-year-old Tokyo Quartet, after performing with Scotto, appears March 26 in Laguna Beach, then, March 27 at Music Guild at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. . . . As principal guest soloist, Fernando Bujones will dance, for the first time, with the Royal Ballet, in Covent Garden, in June. Bujones will appear as Solor, in Rudolf Nureyev’s production of “La Bayadere,” with the British company, June 21, 24 and 26 . . . American soprano Jeannine Altmeyer will return to San Francisco Opera this summer, appearing in the second production of the complete “Ring” cycle, “Die Walkuere,” not as Bruennhilde, which she sang before, but as Sieglinde, replacing Linda Esther Gray, who has canceled her appearances . . . American pianist Jonathan Bass, winner of a first prize in the American National Chopin Competition, will appear in recital at USC, next Sunday afternoon at 3. Bass’ Chopin program will include the Barcarolle; six Preludes; the E-major Scherzo; the Mazurkas, Opus 33, and the Sonata in B-flat minor. . . . Speaking of the ballet version of “Romeo and Juliet,” Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun, original principals in the late John Cranko’s first Stuttgart Ballet production of that ballet, appeared March 9 in New York City, dancing those roles with the Joffrey Ballet.