An Easter Passion
One of the most important dates in the Christian Calendar, Easter tells the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Oxford Bach Soloists mark the event with two special concerts centered around the music of JS Bach. The context of the word Passion is in terms of...
Performer Focus: Humphrey Thompson
One of the soloists in the forthcoming Oxford Bach Soloists Easter concert is bass Humphrey Thompson. Today, we learn more about his musical career. Firstly, can you tell us something about yourself and your musical training to date? My first musical memory as a child...
Two Concerts for Easter
Read about the two Bach blockbusters being performed by the Oxford Bach Soloists this Easter – and find out more about our special Easter ticket offer. One of Bach’s best loved works, the St John Passion was first performed on Good Friday of 1724 in the...
Three motets, a cantata and a Kyrie
Three motets, a cantata and a Kyrie are on the menu as the Oxford Bach Soloists perform some of JS Bach’s most exciting and uplifting music One of Bach’s rarer latin settings and a cry for Mercy sets the scene for the dissonant opening to Bach’s Cantata calling...
The Wages of Sin
Oxford Bach Soloist’s recent performance of one of JS Bach’s most dramatic cantatas calls us to ‘Resist Sin’! Alongside this cantata are three of Bach’s motets. The motet arose in the 13th century from the organum tradition, but in the 18th...
Performer Focus: William Purefoy
The soloist in the forthcoming Oxford Bach Soloists concert ‘The Wages of Sin’ is countertenor William Purefoy. We hear more about his musical career… Tell us something about your musical background and highlights from your career so far… Armed with...The Parable of the Sower
This Sunday 19 February, Tom Hammond-Davies directs the Oxford Bach Soloists in SPIRITS OF THE EARTH with a performance of three of JS Bach’s great cantatas inspired by the Parable of the Sower… The Parable of the Sower – also sometimes referred to...
Performer Focus: Ben Bloor
Organist and continuo player Ben Bloor works regularly with Tom Hammond Davies and is a founding member of the Oxford Bach Soloists. Nicholas Keyworth talks to Ben to hear more about his studies and career in music. Firstly, I asked Ben to tell us a bit about his...Performer Focus: Jam Orrell
One of the orchestral performers with the Oxford Bach Soloists is baroque viola player, Jam Orrell. Nicholas Keyworth caught up with Jam to hear more about her studies and career in music. I started by asking Jam to tell us a bit about her musical background and...
Happy New Year from Oxford Bach Soloists
On behalf of the Oxford Bach Soloists, I would like to wish our friends and followers a very Happy New Year! We enjoyed a sell-out performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on 24th December. It was the perfect way to start the Christmas season, and we are very...
Bach in Leipzig
In 1723 Bach landed the top job – the most prestigious musical position in Protestant Germany. It was here in Leipzig that Bach’s glittering masterpiece, the Christmas Oratorio was premiered at two of the city’s finest churches. So what exactly was Bach’s role...
Bach’s Christmas Story
A sumptuous Christmas musical feast awaits us this Christmas Eve with a performance of the first three parts of Bach’s glittering masterpiece – the Christmas Oratorio – at 5pm in the magnificent setting of New College Chapel. But how did Bach go about...
Performer Focus: Bojan Čičić
This month we meet violinist Bojan Čičić. One of the rising stars of the world of period performance, Bojan is the leader of the orchestra for the Oxford Bach Soloists and also the Blenheim Singers, both of which are directed by Tom Hammond Davies. We started by...
Singing the Reformation video launch
A 26-minute video has been launched featuring the Oxford Bach Soloists 2016 tour to Germany with Singing the Reformation under their director Tom Hammond Davies. The film traces the tour in July to some of the most fascinating historic buildings in Lower Saxony....
Wake up to Bach this weekend
This Sunday at 3.15pm Tom Hammond Davies directs the Oxford Bach Soloists in a performance of two of Bach’s amazing Cantatas in the glorious setting of New College, Oxford. But why did Bach compose these works? Bach wrote Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! (Watch! Pray!...
What makes an ‘authentic’ performance?
The Oxford Bach Soloists pride themselves on presenting authentic performances of Bach Cantatas – but what does this actually mean? Nicholas Keyworth finds out more from director Tom Hammond Davies. What is the attraction of performing on authentic instruments?...
Performer Focus: Elspeth Piggott
This month we meet one of the regular performers with the Oxford Bach Soloists, Elspeth Piggott, a young soprano living in Oxford who has recently started out as a free-lance choral professional. Elspeth grew up in a musically oriented environment, both her parents...
‘Wachet Auf’: The Meaning Behind the Music
On 20 November Tom Hammond-Davies directs the Oxford Bach Soloists in a performance of Bach’s famous cantata Wachet Auf! described by the scholar Klaus Hofmann as one of the composer’s ‘most beautiful, most mature and, at the same time, most popular sacred...
