We’ll be performing a beautiful cantata at Bach Vespers on 24 November, at the church of St Mary-at-Hill in the City of London, at 6.30pm. Bach’s stunning BWV 61, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, looks ahead to Advent and the start of the new liturgical year. This joyful cantata is one of Bach’s earliest, dating from 1714, when he was working in Weimar, although he revived it during his first year in Leipzig. The opening movement, in striking French overture style, is based on Martin Luther’s Advent hymn (pictured), itself based on a medieval chant melody. Other notable moments in the cantata include a tenor aria in the form of a foot-tapping gigue, and the movingly poignant soprano aria ‘Öffne dich, mein ganzes Herze’, which you can hear in a clip from BBC Radio 4 on the right-hand side of this page. The service will also include other music by Bach’s contemporaries, performed by our team of singers and period instrumentalists.
Do come along and bring a friend. Everyone is welcome and you don’t have to be religious. We look forward to sharing Bach’s wonderful music with you.
…not even a power outage! We had a fantastic Bach Vespers this evening, despite the fact that a power cut in the church threatened to spoil everything. Bach didn’t have electricity and it didn’t cramp his style, so we rose to the challenge and continued undaunted. No organ, no problem – we changed to a harpsichord instead. No heating? That’s what coats are for. No light? Torches and clip-on lights did the trick (safer than candles). The picture shows our wonderful team of singers rehearsing in the dark. It was interesting making music without being able to see our colleagues. The sheer relief when the power came back in time for the service added an extra celebratory touch to our performance of Bach’s amazing BWV 80 to a full house on this Reformation Sunday. This will be a Bach Vespers to remember!
Don’t miss us on 27 October as we perform Bach’s magnificent and ever popular Reformation cantata, BWV 80, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. This Bach Vespers service takes place at 6.30pm at the church of St Mary at Hill in the City of London, hosted by St Anne’s Lutheran Church. This cantata features a team of three oboes of different sizes and bassoon, playing with and in contrast to the strings to create fabulous textural colours. There will also be lots of other music too, performed on period instruments.
Come and join us on 29 September for our first Bach Vespers after the summer break. It takes place at 6.30pm at the church of St Mary-at-Hill in the City of London. We’ll be performing Bach’s rarely heard cantata BWV 8, Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben. This features a beautiful and virtuosic flute part, played by flautist extraordinaire, Lisete da Silva (pictured). We’re delighted to have Lisete with us again. There will also be music by Schütz and J. C. Bach, performed by our splendid team of singers and period instrumentalists.