31-year-old violinist Hilary Hahn is a two-time Grammy Award winner celebrated for her probing interpretations, technical brilliance, and spellbinding stage presence. Extensive touring and acclaimed recordings over the past decade and a half have made Hahn one of the most sought-after artists on the international concert circuit. Her Gala Concert recital will include Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, Beethoven Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Brahms Sonatensatz, a newly commissioned work and selected shorter works.

General Admission $40, Students $15
Benefactors  $250 per person (tax deductible portion $125)Prime reserved seating; Reserved pre-concert cocktail and dinner party at the Hotel Bethlehem and exclusive opportunity to bid in live auction of musical salons and other treasures.

Saturday December 10, 2011at 8pm – First Presbyterian Church of Allentown
Sunday December 11, 2011at 4pm – First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem
Sponsor: Rider-Pool Foundation

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Cantata 40 – Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes
Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 – Part 3

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1636-1704)
Messe de Minuit pour Noël (Midnight Mass for Christmas)

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Motets for the Season of Christmas 

This is Christmas music conjuring up all the magic and mystery of the Nativity. We are treated to the charming 17th century Midnight Mass for Christmas drawing on the popular melodies of French Christmas Carols; and the lyric melodies and ethereal harmonies of the 20th century Motets for the Christmas Season. The program begins with Bach’s Cantata 40, pondering the meaning of Christ’s incarnation, and ends with Part 3 of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and shepherds glorifying God for the things they have seen. As part of a beloved tradition, Greg Funfgeld will invite the audience to sing carols with The Choir.

Allentown Concert – General Admission Adults $35, Students $10
Bethlehem Concert – Front Sanctuary & Balcony $40; Rear Sanctuary $30; Students $10

Sunday February 26, 2012 at 3pm
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
Sponsors: Holt Family Foundation, Crayola, Just Born Inc.

Performing with The Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra, this year’s dance partners include the Muhlenberg College Dancers, director Corrie Cowart; and the Dance Program of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, director Kimberly Maniscalco. Dance styles and repertoire range from classical — Bach's haunting Concerto in C Minor for Violin and Oboe— to modern with a lively movement from Baroque & Blue, Claude Bolling’s Sonata for Flute and Jazz Piano. As always, maestro Greg Funfgeld communicates with our young listeners to engage their eyes and ears in this imaginative program.

Adults $17; Students $6

Sunday March 18, 2012 at 4pm – First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem
Sponsor: HYDAC

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Motet BWV 226 Der Geist hilft

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Four Serious Songs
Ein deutches Requiem Opus 45

Soloists
Tamara Matthews, soprano
Christòpheren Nomura, bass-baritone

After The Bach Choir’s first performance of the Brahms’ Requiem in 2005, the Morning Call called it “the concert of the decade.” Funfgeld and the choir return to their love for this work in a more intimate and rarely performed version arranged by Brahms himself for two pianos. The brilliant pianists are The Choir’s own Thomas Goeman and Eric Plutz, principal organist for Princeton University Chapel. Brahms’ sublime writing for voice (baritone) and piano will also be heard in Four Serious Songs, his last composition. This moving meditation on death ends with the immortal “and now abideth faith, hope, and love.” At the center of the program is Bach’s exquisite double chorus motet, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.”  

Front Sanctuary & Balcony $40; Rear Sanctuary $30; Students $10

Second Tuesdays, 12:10-1:00pm
Central Moravian Church, Historic Downtown Bethlehem
Free admission and no need for a reservation. Doors open at 11:30am. Come early to be sure of a seat! 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.
Sponsors: Bosch Rexroth | Hampson Mowrer Kreitz
Janney Montgomery Scott

2011 - September 13
Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings in E Major, BWV 1053
Charlotte Mattax Moersch, harpsichord

Choral Works commemorating the tenth anniversary of 9/11 by Randall Thompson, Paul Sjolund, Gabriel Faure and J.S. Bach

October 11
Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings in D Minor, BWV 1052
Charlotte Mattax, harpsichord

Cantata 57 – Selig ist der Mann – Bethlehem premiere
Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano and William Sharp, baritone

November 8
Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings in D Major, BWV 1054
Charlotte Mattax, harpsichord

Cantata 129 – Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott

2012 - January 10 THE FIFTIETH BACH AT NOON
an encore presentation of the
program from the first Bach at Noon
Brandenburg Concert No. One, BWV 1046
Cantata 65 – Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen

February 14
French Suite No. 4  in E-flat Major, BWV 815
Greg Funfgeld, harpsichord

Cantata 8 – Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben
(first performed in Bethlehem in 1917 – this will be the second performance)

March 13
Trio Sonata from The Musical Offering, BWV 1079
Robin Kani, flute;  Elizabeth Field, violin; and Greg Funfgeld, harpsichord

Cantata 82 – Ich habe genug
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone (winner of an honorable mention in the 2008 Competition for Young American Singers co-sponsored by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and The American Bach Society)

April 10
Ludwig van Beethoven – Cello Sonata in F Major, Opus  5, No. 1
Loretta O’Sullivan, cello; Greg Funfgeld, piano

Cantata 130 – Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir

Sponsor: The Historic Hotel Bethlehem

The 2012 Bach Festival is the culmination of our season-long Roots of Renewal Celebration marking the 100th anniversary of The Choir’s Guarantor System and the first Bach Festival held in Lehigh University’s Packer Memorial Church. We hope you will participate in our festivities including the Picnic Lunch and Guarantors’ “Meet the Artists” reception. A special thank you to Guarantors who responded to Greg Funfgeld’s invitation to let him know what works you would most like to hear at the 2012 Festival. Quite a few of your suggestions are included!

Soloists
Agnes Zsigovics, soprano
Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano
Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
William Sharp, baritone
Daniel Lichti, bass

Fridays May 4 & 11
2pm –Distinguished Scholar Lecture
Nicholas Kenyon
Bach in the 21st Century
Black Box Theatre, Zoellner Arts Center
Free Admission – no tickets required
Nicholas Kenyon was Controller of BBC Radio 3 from 1992–1998 and Director of the BBC Proms from 1996 to 2007. He is now ManagingDirector of the Barbican Centre, one of Europe’s largest multi-arts venues. He continues to write about music and the arts, and has published books on Simon Rattle, edited the influential Authenticity and Early Music, and wrote The Faber Pocket Guide to Mozart. In 2011 he published The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach.

4:30pm – Bach Cantatas
Packer Memorial Church
The great Reformation Cantata 79, Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild will open this celebratory Festival – a rousing opening chorus with horns and timpani and Bach’s beloved setting of the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” are highlights of this masterpiece. Countertenor Daniel Taylor will be featured in Bach’s extraordinary solo Cantata 170, Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust; and the concert will conclude with the great Easter Cantata 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden with the rich sound of trombones in Bach’s orchestra.
Adults $28, $22 or $20; Students $10

6:00pm Dinner and Discussion – Larry Lipkis, Moravian College composer in residence
Lehigh University Center – Asa Packer Dining Room $35
Dinner/Discussion: $35

8:30pm – Bach Cantatas
Packer Memorial Church
This evening’s concert opens with Bach’s other great Reformation Cantata 80, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. Hand- transcribed parts for this cantata, dated 1823, are in the Moravian Archives. Scholars agree that this indicates that Bethlehem was the earliest known site of Bach’s music (“Bach reception”) in the United States, six years before Mendelssohn’s “revival” of Bach’s music in Europe. The program concludes with the beloved Cantata 21, Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, again with trombones added to the rich orchestration of strings, oboes, trumpets and timpani.
Adults $28, $22 or $20; Students $10

Saturdays May 5 & 12
10:30am – Bach Festival Orchestra & Eliot Fisk, guitar
The Ifor Jones Memorial Chamber Music Concert
Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center
Our brilliant guest soloist, Eliot Fisk, will join The Bach Festival Orchestra for a performance of the rarely heard and thoroughly delightful Concerto in A major by Italian composer Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) and his own transcription of the Chaconne from J.S. Bach’s D Minor Violin Partita. The program is bookended with two of Bach’s Orchestral Suites--the Second Suite in B Minor, BWV 1067, featuring principal flautist Robin Kani, and the Third Suite in D Major, BWV 1068 with its immortal Air. 
Adults $27; Students $10

10:30 am – Bach and the Art of the Dance: 
The Partitas for Harpsichord, Charlotte Mattax Moersch
Peter Hall, Moravian College
Charlotte Mattax, virtuoso harpsichordist and favorite of Bach Festival audiences, plays a program of Bach Partitas in the intimate space of the delightful Peter Hall.
Adults $27; Students $10

12:15pm Festival Picnic Lunch
In the tradition of ‘lunching on the lawn,’ the Heritage Luncheon will be replaced by an up-scale picnic lunch under a tent adjacent to the Zoellner Arts Center.  As always, members of the Heritage Society and Guarantors in the top 3 giving circles ($750+) are our guests; all other Guarantors enjoy the discounted price of $20 per person.  Regular Price: $25 per person.

2:30pm Mass in B Minor (Part 1) and 4:30pm (Part 2)
Packer Memorial Church
The Mass in B Minor has been the heart of the Festival since 1900. Bring a friend, family member or young student who has never before experienced the emotional and spiritual power and beauty of Bach’s monumental masterpiece
adults $57, $45 or $40; Students $20

6:00pm Reception for our Guarantors and Artists
Celebrating the rich legacy of the Guarantor’s support of The Choir and our century-old relationship with Lehigh University, the Guarantor reception (typically held on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Memorial Hall) will be replaced by a festive reception for Guarantors and artists (Choir, orchestra and soloists) immediately following The Mass in B Minor in the tent adjacent to Zoellner Arts Center. Thanks to the Lehigh University President’s Office for hosting this reception.