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Bach at NoonGala Concert & FundraiserChristmas ConcertsFamily ConcertsSpring Concerts112th Bethlehem Bach Festival
Bach at Noon Allentown – final performance of the summer!
It was wonderful to welcome so many to our July Bach at Noon performance!
One more summer concert remains on our schedule in Allentown: Tuesday, August 14 at Saint John’s Lutheran Church. Always free and open to the public, this concert series offers the perfect opportunity to enjoy midday spiritual and musical refreshment – please join us!
We have a truly wonderful program for you – the young pianist from Moscow, 17-year-old KRISTINA MODITCH, will play Bach’s SECOND PARTITA, a collection of dance pieces – beautiful and rhythmic!
Also on the program, Cantata 34 – O Eternal Light – opening and closing choruses with brilliant, festive writing for trumpets and timpani, and a serene alto lullaby accompanied by muted strings and flutes. Rounding out the program are two choral pieces setting texts about stars, including Eriks Esenvalds stunning STARS, for a capella chorus accompanied by tuned wine and water glasses and six Tibetan bowls.
In Saint John’s splendid acoustics, this will be unforgettable!
Second Tuesday of the month:
June 12
July 10
August 14
Please go the “Jump to” box for the repertoire and details for each Bach at Noon concert!
Information about directions and parking may be found here. (Click on St. John’s Lutheran Church from the list of locations.)
And to hear from our wonderfully dedicated Choir members, explore the links below!
⇒ VOICES from the CHOIR
- To take a peek at rehearsal for the Festival: click here!
- “A gift I did not ever see coming” : click here!
- “…for people to feel what we feel!” : click here!
- “…more down-to-earth than people think.” : click here!
- “…in our own backyard!” : click here!
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!”
Gala Concert & Fundraiser
Peter Serkin
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 and Thomanerchor, 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.
112th 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.
