As I begin my fifth season as Artistic Director and Conductor, I am excited to share my continued vision for our beloved organization and to celebrate another highly significant moment in the storied history of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. In June 2027, we return to Bachfest Leipzig as the sole North American choir in a worldwide commemorative performance of the St. Matthew Passion, marking its 300th anniversary and bringing Bethlehem’s century-long devotion to Bach back to the city where this masterpiece was first performed.
This historic honor inspired me to create a remarkable season that culminated May 13-16 at the Bethlehem Bach Festival, where we perform Mendelssohn’s landmark 1841 revival of the St. Matthew Passion, the very repertoire we will bring to Leipzig weeks later. One of the goals I care about most as a conductor is finding ways to put Bach in conversation with music of other eras, and this Festival gives us several chances to do exactly that. World-renowned guitarist Eliot Fisk brings that same spirit to the guitar as our Artist-in-Residence, with a program centered entirely on virtuosity, pairing Bach’s Baroque dance movements with the dance-inspired guitar writing of Paraguayan composer Agustín Barrios, hailed as the Chopin of the guitar, as well as works by famous violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. At our Ifor Jones Memorial Chamber Music concert, we trace Mendelssohn’s own debt to Bach directly, pairing works from his youth, steeped in the study of Bach’s music, with Bach’s own pieces for the keyboard, including an audience favorite, the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor.
Mark you calendars – I hope to see you there.
Embedded within Bach’s exultant opening cantata of the Christmas Oratorio is a single line of text that has been personally meaningful to me since I first heard the piece: “He has come to earth in poverty so that he may have mercy on us.” This connection between the treatment of the lowly, mercy, and our own grace is at the very heart of the Christmas spirit, a fact that Charles Dickens understood when he authored A Christmas Carol. Our Christmas concert this year places Bach in conversation with a new choral setting of Dickens’ classic tale, composed by GRAMMY-nominated Benedict Sheehan and narrated by Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s own Jason King Jones. Two cherished works, centuries apart, bring you the true spirit of Christmas.
In March, our Spring concert brings us Joby Talbot’s masterpiece Path of Miracles. Originally written for one of the world’s finest professional chamber choirs, Tenebrae, it stands as a fitting challenge for the Bach Choir, which has spent more than a century performing the greatest works in the choral repertoire. The work is inspired by the Camino de Santiago, the centuries-old pilgrimage route across northern Spain, which Talbot walked himself before writing the piece. Its music retraces that path step by step, from departure, through trials and tests of faith, to the end of the journey and personal transformation. Its spiritual and musical impact makes it, in my mind, a modern companion to Bach’s own great choral works. Much like my experiences with the Mass in B Minor, each time I return to this score I find something new in myself, and in the music. I’m excited to share this incredible work with you as we prepare for our own pilgrimage to Leipzig.
With gratitude,
Christopher Jackson, Artistic Director & Conductor
