29 November is not only Advent Sunday, but we will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Bach Vespers in the City of London! Bach Vespers was started by Peter Lea-Cox in Autumn 1976. It is amazing that it is still going today, and we feel privileged to be part of this long tradition. This Bach Vespers service takes place at 6.30pm at St George’s Lutheran Church, Alie Street, London, E1 8EB.

Come and celebrate with us as we perform Bach’s magnificent and much loved cantata, BWV 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. This is based on the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, a famous Lutheran hymn tune by Nicolai, and love poetry from the Song of Songs. The work has been described as ‘a cantata without weaknesses, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order, its sheer perfection and its boundless imagination rouse one’s wonder time and time again’ (W. G. Whittaker). The service will include other German vocal works and jubilant instrumental music of celebration and for the Advent season.

Everyone is welcome (you don’t have to be religious), and attendance is free. Do come along and bring your friends. We look forward to seeing you there to share Bach’s wonderful music!

Don’t miss us on 25 October as we perform Bach’s majestic and ever popular Reformation cantata, BWV 80, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. This Bach Vespers service takes place at 6.30pm at St George’s Lutheran Church, Alie Street, London, E1 8EB. This cantata features a team of three oboes of different sizes plus bassoon, playing with and in contrast to the strings to create fabulous textural colours. Oboe da caccia also makes an obbligato appearance! Reformation time marks a big celebration within the Lutheran Church and our performance of this cantata has become an annual highlight. We are looking forward to performing it in St George’s for the first time. The cantata will be combined with other joyous music for the occasion, to create an exciting musical event not to be missed.

Everyone is welcome (you don’t have to be religious), and attendance is free. Do come along and bring your friends. We look forward to seeing you there to share Bach’s wonderful music!

Following Bach Vespers: 29 November (BWV 140).

27 September marks our first Bach Vespers in St George’s, Alie Street, E1 8EB. The service is at 6.30pm and everyone is welcome.

As a house-warming celebration, we perform Bach’s joyous cantata BWV 192, Nun danket alle Gott. Other music in the service includes a motet of the same name by Pachelbel; the uplifting final chorus of another Bach cantata, BWV 134a, with its appropriate text ‘Bring joy to this house!’; and some beautiful flute pieces by Hasse. All music is performed by our specialist team of singers and period instrumentalists.

Attendance is free and you don’t need to be religious, so do come along and bring a friend. We look forward to sharing Bach’s wonderful music with you.

Following Bach Vespers: 25 October (BWV 80).

From September, Bach Vespers cantata services take place in a new venue:  St George’s Lutheran Church, Alie Street, London. St George’s is the oldest Lutheran Church building in the country. It was built in the eighteenth century to serve the German community in London. It will be amazing to hear and perform Bach’s music in this historic venue from the same period. We look forward to welcoming you there, and sharing this special experience.

The Autumn Bach Vespers services are full of celebration! Come and join us on these dates:

  27 September: Bach Vespers première in our new home!

  25 October: Reformation Day Bach Vespers

  29 November: 50th Anniversary of Bach Vespers in the City of London!

All services are at 6.30pm, in St George’s, Alie Street, E1 8EB (nearest tube, Aldgate East).

Come and join us on 26 July, for a performance of Bach’s impressive yet rarely performed cantata, BWV 186, Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht. 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.

Bach first wrote the music for this cantata for Advent in 1716, when he was working in Weimar. In 1723, Bach adapted and expanded the cantata for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, because in Leipzig it was not permitted to perform cantatas in Advent. This later version, which we perform, relates to the Gospel reading of the miracle of the bread and fishes. BWV 173 is a substantial work in two parts, intended to be performed either side of the sermon in a service, as we shall do. This cantata particularly features double-reed instruments, with three oboes in different sizes and bassoon. The cantata consists of eleven highly varied movements, including striking choruses, an energetic bass aria, a chromatic and sublimely expressive soprano aria and an exquisite duet for soprano and alto. There will also be lots of other music in the service, both vocal and instrumental, by Bach and other German baroque composers, performed on period instruments. This will be the final Bach Vespers before the summer break.

Everyone is welcome (you don’t have to be religious), and attendance is free. Do come along and bring your friends. We look forward to seeing you there to share Bach’s wonderful music!