UCSB Professor Jennifer Kloetzel Releases The Bach-Wilson Project

UC Santa Barbara Department of Music Professor Jennifer Kloetzel has released The Bach-Wilson Project, a new album recorded with violinist and composer Peter Wilson as The BrickHouse Duo.

Released July 24, 2026, by Navona Records, the digital album brings together music by J.S. Bach, The Beatles, and Wilson in an inventive exploration of the Baroque tradition of the descant—a melodic voice played above more complex music. Once a common practice in classical music, the art of the descant began to fade around the Romantic era. In The Bach-Wilson Project, Kloetzel and Wilson revive this musical tradition through newly crafted arrangements that explore musical quotation, improvisation, and transformation.

Bach’s familiar melodies provide a foundation for descants and duets that move between delicate, ethereal lines and richly layered textures, creating a dialogue between music from different eras.

For Kloetzel, the project extends beyond presenting familiar works in a new arrangement. She hopes listeners will have a deeply personal response to the music.

“More than anything, I want listeners to have a human reaction,” Kloetzel said. “Music transports us and creates space for us to reflect. It is a kind of time travel that can be very powerful.”

The origins of the project are personal. During the pandemic, Kloetzel and Wilson were engaged and planning their wedding for June 2020 while living on opposite coasts. Wilson asked Kloetzel to record Bach’s famous G Major Prelude and send it to him. He then added a violin descant to her cello recording as a surprise wedding present.

Kloetzel loved the result and encouraged Wilson to create descants for the other five Cello Suite preludes. Those recordings became the foundation of The Bach-Wilson Project, with each of the first six tracks carrying the dedication “For Jennifer.” From there, the project expanded to include new transcriptions and musical mash-ups featuring works by Bach, Brahms, The Beatles, and others.

“I loved the music and thought the idea was creative—and encouraged him to do the other five Cello Suite preludes, which became the true start of this project,” Kloetzel said. “From that point on, he created transcriptions or clever mash-ups to include with the project for us to play together.”

Kloetzel and Wilson’s musical collaboration has roots that go back decades. The two first met as members of the inaugural National High School Honors Orchestra. Years later, they reunited to collaborate, with Kloetzel appearing as a cello soloist with orchestras under Wilson’s direction. They eventually began performing violin and cello repertoire together and officially launched The BrickHouse Duo as a recording and touring ensemble in 2017.

The album reflects the duo’s longstanding interest in collaboration and musical exploration. Wilson serves not only as a performing violinist but also as the composer and arranger of the new descants and duets, while Kloetzel brings her artistry as a cellist to Bach’s music and the duo’s expanded repertoire.

The Bach-Wilson Project is available digitally through Navona Records.

The Bach-Wilson Project
Jennifer Kloetzel, cello
Peter Wilson, violin
J.S. Bach, composer
Peter Wilson, composer
The BrickHouse Duo

Release Date: July 24, 2026
Navona Records | Catalog No. NV6873
Format: Digital

Listen to The Bach-Wilson Project

Read The Inside Story: Peter Wilson, Jennifer Kloetzel, and The Bach-Wilson Project

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