Bach in Vegas

Peter Schickele is back. The renowned “professor” from the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, responsible for “discovering” the not-so-esteemed works of P. D. Q. Bach, the last and decidedly least son of Johann Sebastian, is returning for a rare performance with the Minnesota Orchestra. Though P. D. Q. was once called a “pimple on the face of music,” Schickele continues to find nuances of the man’s work to explore, as is evident in his latest show, P. D. Q. Bach: The Vegas Years.

Since 1965, Schickele has released nearly twenty albums of music he composed in the guise of Bach, demonstrating incomparable gifts as a musical satirist. He took the 1990s off to devote himself to his public radio show, Schickele Mix, taped at Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul.

The Vegas Years features some of Bach’s wackiest compositions, such as the classic oratorio Oedipus Tex, (“you may have heard of my brother Rex”) set in Thebes Gulch. What makes Schickele’s schtick work is that the musical gags are broad enough to amuse the general public, yet ingenious enough to appeal to even the most jaded connoisseur of classical music.

Most of the works on the program are vocal, and Schickele will be joined by off coloratura soprano Michéle Eaton and tenor profundo David Dusing. Among other things, they will perform Songs from Shakespeare, in which some of the bard’s most famous speeches are set to ’50s rock ’n’ roll melodies.

At seventy-one, Schickele doesn’t swing onstage from the box seats like he used to, but he promises a show with plenty of surprises. May 24. Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-371-5656