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Bach at NoonGala Concert & FundraiserChristmas ConcertsFamily ConcertsSpring Concerts113th Bethlehem Bach Festival
WWFM Christmas Eve Broadcast!
Bach Choir Christmas Concert
This year’s Christmas concerts featured the story of Christ’s birth with glorious pieces from Bach and Handel. Bach’s Magnificat and Part One of Handel’s Messiah offer us musical journeys that focus on the meaning of Christmas, as Mary learns she is blessed to bear the child she will bring into the world in Magnificat, and the world anticipates the arrival of the Savior in Part One of the Messiah.
A beautiful addition to your holidays! Tune in to WWFM on Christmas Eve for a broadcast of our Bethlehem performance of this year’s Christmas Concert. Watch this space for time and more information!
The Bach Choir’s European Tour, June 2020
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem will be part of the 2020 BachFest “We Are Family,” held in Leipzig, Germany in June 2020. As one of only 18 choirs invited to participate from around the world, we are thrilled to be included in this international celebration of Bach’s music and perform in his Church of many years, the Saint Thomas Church (Thomaskirche.) On this trip, we will also perform in Dresden, Herrnhut and Prague.
Our Tag-Along group is SOLD OUT! If you’d like to be on a waiting list should a spot open up, or if you’d like to make a contribution to help offset our tour expenses, please call: 610-866-4382 x 110.
Bach and Handel CDs make cherished gifts, for any occasion!
Recorded in Bethlehem in May, 2018, these CDs include:
2-CD Set: J.S. Bach, Cantata BWV 21 and George Frideric Handel, Ode for Saint Cecilia’s Day
$30
Greg Funfgeld conducts The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Bach Festival Orchestra, with featured soloists:
Cassandra Lemoine, soprano
Rosa Lamoreux, soprano
Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
William Sharp, baritone
Single CDs: $17
Treat yourself and friends and family to this exquisite music! Place your order by clicking our “Shop” page or calling 610-866-4382.
Bach at Noon
Initiated in 2005, this free concert series was designed as a community and economic development initiative educating new audiences about Bach’s music. It includes seven performances throughout the year at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem and three summer concerts at St. John’s Lutheran Church in downtown Allentown. Greg Funfgeld introduces each program with an engaging, informal talk. Bach at Noon has been a phenomenal success attracting audiences of all ages totaling more than 8,000 a year. A frequent response from audience members is, “This is such a blessing!”
This season, we’re thrilled to announce that our Bach at Noon concerts will be broadcast by WWFM, the Classical Network. This award-winning classical music station is listener supported, and has offered a number of Bach Choir concerts in previous seasons. We’re delighted that they’ll be sharing our joyous Bach at Noon concerts with listeners near and far each month!
The schedule for the WWFM broadcasts is shown below, listing the concert, followed by the broadcast date. Note that each month, the broadcasts take place at 1 PM on the second Monday of the month.
2019:
September 10 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, October 7
October 8 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, November 11
November 12 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, January 13
2020:
January 14 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, February 10
February 11 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, March 9
March 10 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, April 9
April 14 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, June 8
Allentown Concerts:
June 9 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, July 13
July 14 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, August 10
August 11 Bach at Noon / Broadcast on Monday, September 7
Gala Concert & Fundraiser
Building on the successful presentation of such high profile artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Dave Brubeck, Emma Kirkby, Tiempo Libre, Hilary Hahn, the Swingle Singers, Eliot Fisk, the American Boychoir, Bach Collegium Japan, Roomful of Teeth, Thomanerchor and Peter Serkin, the annual Gala is a fundraiser and a fun musical and social event featuring Bach connections in different genres with guest artists at the top of their field.
Christmas Concerts
The Choir’s long tradition of offering Christmas music concerts began with the first complete performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in the United States in 1901. Since then, the Choir has continued to bring Bach’s music, along with the sacred Christmas music of other composers, including more contemporary pieces, to the community with its annual December concerts in Allentown and Bethlehem.
Family Concerts
Initiated in 2000, the annual Family Concerts are imaginative, collaborative, interactive concerts that feature professional and student artists in the fields of music, dance, theater, visual arts, and poetry, performing with the full Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra. For many parents, the Family Concert offers the perfect opportunity to introduce their children to Bach, classical music and a live performance.
Spring Concerts
Welcoming the spring and celebrating the sacred Easter season with the music of J.S. Bach has been a long been a tradition of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Centerpieces of these performances over the years have included Bach’s Jesu, meine Freude and The Passion According to Saint John, along with the works of more contemporary composers including Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten and Morten Lauridsen.
113th Bethlehem Bach Festival
Our largest event of the year takes place in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on the campus of Lehigh University and on the historic grounds of the Moravian community. The Festival is a glorious tradition treasured by thousands of people from throughout the United States and beyond since the American premiere of Bach’s monumental Mass at the first Bethlehem Bach Festival in 1900. The Festival is presented each year over two weekends in May, and includes guest artists-in-residence, featured young musicians, lectures and chorale sings with the audience.
