Click here for directions to the various venues.

Second Tuesdays, 12:10-1:00pm
Announced at 11:45 by The Bethlehem Area Moravian Trombone Choir playing from the church belfry

February 12— Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1039
Robin Kani, flute and Mary Watt, oboe
Cantata BWV 97 – in allen meinen Taten
Sponsored by Rider Pool Foundation

March 11— Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Loretta O’Sullivan, cello
Motet – Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227
Sponsored by Capital Blue Cross and Coca-Cola Bottling Company of the Lehigh Valley

April 8— Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C Major, BWV 1061a
Thomas Goeman and Greg Funfgeld, harpsichords
Cantata BWV 43 – Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen
Sponsored by Capital Blue Cross and Coca-Cola Bottling Company of the Lehigh Valley

FREE ADMISSION AND NO NEED FOR A RESERVATION. Doors open at 11:30am. Come early to be sure of a seat!!  Spend a peaceful hour in Central Moravian Church where The Bach Choir of Bethlehem began its journey in 1900. Greg Funfgeld will introduce the music performed by members of The Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra with an informal talk. A free-will offering will be received.

Directions to the Central Moravian Church and Moravian Museum: From Route 22 take the exit for Route 378 (Historic Bethlehem, Lehigh University). Take the Center City exit. At the end of the ramp turn LEFT on to Third Ave. Proceed to the traffic light and turn LEFT on to Broad Street. Proceed to the first traffic light. Turn RIGHT on to Main Street. Continue on Main Street. At the second traffic light, Central Moravian Church will be on your LEFT. Continue around the bend at the Hill-to-Hill bridge. There is a large parking lot under the bridge for public parking.

Click here to see The Bach Choir commercial that is running on various cable channels from the end of March through the 101st Festival.

May 2-3 & 8-10, 2008
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
Sponsored by Lehigh Cement, Air Products, Health Network Laboratories, KNBT , The Morning Call, Express Times, and Via Media
For the 101st Bach Festival, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem will be host for the first time to the biennial meeting of the American Bach Society (May 8-10), exploring the theme of “Bach and the Oratorio Tradition.” Whether you are a long-time supporter or a first-time visitor, join the thousands of Bach lovers who will come to Bethlehem from across the nation and beyond to enjoy the music and conversation as our second century continues.

SOLOISTS
Kendra Colton, soprano
Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano
Daniel Taylor, countertenor     
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
William Sharp, baritone           
Christòpheren Nomura, bass-baritone

Fridays, May 2 & 9
2pm 
Distinguished Scholar Lecture
Dr. Christoph Wolff “Are Bach’s Oratorios sacred operas?”
Diamond Theatre, Zoellner Arts Center
Christoph Wolff is the Adams University Professor at Harvard University. Born and educated in Germany, he studied organ and historical keyboard instruments, musicology and art history at the Universities of Berlin, Erlangen, and Freiburg. He currently serves as the director of the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig and his many published writings on Bach include Bach: Essays on His Life and Music (1991), The New Bach Reader (1998), and Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (2000.)

4:30pm
The Easter Oratorio
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
Tickets $26 & $20, students $10 & $6
The centerpiece of this concert is the Easter Oratorio, last performed at the Bach Festival in 1995. This virtuoso work, vividly depicting the emotions of the Easter story, is preceded by Cantata 118 – O Jesu Christ, mein Leibens Licht and the moving Trauer Ode, Cantata 198.

6pm
Dinner/Discussion – Dr. George B. Stauffer
Asa Packer Room, Lehigh University Center
Tickets $30 - Limited Seating
A delicious buffet dinner, wine, round-trip shuttle bus service for those who don’t want to climb the hill to the University Center, and an informal talk by Dr. George B. Stauffer, Dean of the Mason Gross School of the Arts, professor of Music at Rutgers University, and a well-known writer on the life and works of J.S. Bach.

8:30pm
The Ascension Oratorio
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
Tickets $26 & $20, students $10 & $6
Continuing with the Festival theme of Bach and the oratorio tradition, we feature the Ascension Oratorio, last performed by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem in 2001 on an internationally acclaimed Dorian recording. The concert opens with Miserere by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745), followed by Cantata 74 – Wer mich, der wird mein Wort halten.

Saturdays, May 3 & 10
10:30am
Ifor Jones Memorial Chamber Music Concerts
Eliot Fisk and the Bach Festival Orchestra
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University
Tickets $20, students $10 & $6
World-renowned classical guitarist Eliot Fisk, who enchanted audiences at the Chamber Music in the Saal concerts in 2006, returns as a soloist for this concert in Baker Hall. Fisk will perform unaccompanied in a transcription of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6 in D major as well as with the Bach Festival Orchestra in Vivaldi’s Lute Concerto in D Major. The program will begin and end with Bach’s Orchestral Suites No. 1 in C major and No. 4 in D major.

10:30am
Chamber Music in the Saal
Simon Standage, violin
Saal of the Moravain Museum, Bethlehem, PA
Tickets $25 - Limited seating
Simon Standage was a leader and soloist with Trevor Pinnock’s period instrument ensemble The English Concert from its founding until 1990 and is also well known for his work with the City of London Sinfonia and the Academy of Ancient Music of which he was associate director with Christopher Hogwood. He is a professor of baroque violin at the Royal Academy of Music.   For his debut at the Bethlehem Bach Festival, Standage offers a program of Bach violin partitas and music by Bach contemporaries.

2:30 pm (Part 1) and 4:30pm (Part 2)
The Mass in B Minor
Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University
Tickets $52 & $40, students $20 & $12
The Mass in B Minor has been the heart of the Festival since the American premiere of this monumental work at the first Bethlehem Bach Festival in 1900

Thurs. May 8, 2008 8 pm
Highlights of the Festival
First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA
Tickets $20, students $6 & $10
This popular introduction to the Bach Festival will feature highlights from the Mass in B Minor, Easter and Ascension Oratorios, and Cantatas performed during the main Festival concerts.

Sunday May 11, 2008
2pm
Young American Singer Competition
First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, PA
Free Admission
The ten young finalists of this national Bach vocal competition sponsored by the American Bach Society and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem each perform two Bach arias for a distinguished panel of judges.