May 13-16, 2027
The 119th Bethlehem Bach Festival is the culminating celebration of our season, welcoming audiences back to historic Bethlehem for four days of music, discover, and shared tradition. This year’s Festival traces a journey through Bach’s enduring influence, from intimate chamber performances and conversations with leading scholars to Mendelssohn’s historic 1841 adaptation of St. Matthew Passion and the Bach Choir’s crown jewel performance of the Mass in B Minor. With acclaimed guest artists, beloved Festival traditions, and programs that look ahead to the Choir’s return to Leipzig, the Festival invites us to experience how great music travels across generations, places, and time.
Artist-in-Residence
We are excited to welcome back Eliot Fisk, known worldwide as a charismatic performer famed for his adventurous and virtuosic repertoire. He is also celebrated for his willingness to take art music into unusual venues. After nearly 50 years before the public, he remains, as his mentor Andres Segovia once wrote, “at the top line of our artistic world.” Fisk has recorded more than 40 CDs and performed around the globe in solo recitals and as soloist with innumerable welcome orchestras.
He has also created myriad ongoing chamber music ensembles, which have included forays into flamenco and jazz. The repertoire of the classical guitar has been transformed through Fisk’s many transcriptions, including works by Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Paganini, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Granados, Albeniz, and works of contemporary composers. In addition, numerous new works have been composed for and dedicated to Eliot Fisk by composers as varied as Leonardo Balada, Robert Beaser, Luciano Berio, George Rochberg, Nicholas Maw, and Kurt Schwertsik. Fisk is the Founder and Artistic Director of Boston GuitarFest, an annual event now in its 21st year and administered by his nonprofit, Eliot Fisk Guitar Academy.
Soloists
We are delighted to welcome an outstanding roster of vocal soloists to our upcoming festival. Joining us are sopranos Sherezade Panthaki and Katelyn Grace Jackson, mezzo-soprano Meg Bragle, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Edmund Milly. Each brings a distinctive voice and artistry to the festival, promising performances that are both deeply expressive and thrilling to hear.
