Each year, months of musical preparation and planning culminate in the crown jewel of the Bach Choir’s season: the Festival in May.  Members of The Choir have been hard at work mastering the St. John Passion and reviewing the Mass in B Minor.   In addition to the Mass and the St. John, listeners will have numerous opportunities to expand their musical and intellectual horizons with wonderful performances.  Indeed, these opportunities are more than enough to commend the Festival to lovers of music.  There’s so much more, though:  the opportunity to connect with the broad Bach Choir family at a truly wonderful musical homecoming for our audience, who travel from near and far;  the opportunity for faithful to experience the nourishment of their spiritual lives by some of most powerful religious music ever written; the opportunity for music lovers and aspiring musicians to experience music performed with both masterful technical accomplishment and the highest levels of artistry; a chance to experience deep beauty and truth in a wonderful setting on Lehigh’s campus, currently awash in flowering trees and the splendor of high spring.  I could gush on (and on), and it should be obvious to readers that I’m a hopeless partisan for the delights of this unique and substantive contribution to the culture of our nation.

It’s my intention to write more about the Festival each day this week, from the music, to the storied traditions, to the people who shape our experiences, all in the hopes that you’ll join us for one (or two!) glorious weekends of Bach’s music.  Please stay tuned!