December 2019
Magnificat: Cantatas for Christmas
** SOLD OUT ** Please contact info@oxfordbachsoloists.com to be put on the waiting list.** Bach’s first Christmas in Leipzig comes with an explosion of festive music. After Advent’s ‘tempus clausum’ (closed period), Bach laid on nine major pieces for his singers and instrumentalists to master, including the Magnificat in E flat major, more commonly heard in its later D major version.
Find out more »January 2020
The Magi
Hot off the heels of his first Christmas in Leipzig, Bach presents us with a vibrant set of Cantatas for the New Year and Epiphany. Cantata 190 is a paean heralding the New Year, and Cantata 153 takes the dramatic story of Herod and the Massacre of the Innocents as its inspiration. Epiphany is ushered in as a pair of horns brings the wise men with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in Cantata 65.
Find out more »February 2020
Calm the Storm
Cantata 155 displays the 31-year-old Bach’s enchanting innovation in his younger days with one of the finest bassoon obbligati ever written. Cantatas 73 and 81 take as their starting point two of Christ’s miracles: the healing of the leper, and the calming of the storm. The joyful Cantata 83 is possibly Bach’s first Cantata for the feast of the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Candlemas) in which Simeon sings his famous Nunc dimittis.
Find out more »March 2020
Pantomime Villains
In the lead up to Lent, three cantatas based on parables: Cantata 144, based on the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, reveals an alto aria with a sustained melody of great beauty; and Cantatas 181 and 18, both based on the Parable of the Sower, projecting dramatic scenes of spasmodic birds pecking at the scattered seed, and a furious litany in which Bach rains fire and brimstone on the ‘pantomime villains, the Turks and the Papists’.
Find out more »April 2020
St John Passion from Isolation
Thank you to Paolo Troilo for our cover image for this concert - if you want to see more of his brilliant hyperrealistic fingerpainting check out his Instagram page. Watch now! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUmxx_mNG1s&list=PLqtDJiSg2nrJ6N1iiTpiaGhCH37bUcLee St John Passion from Isolation We were truly devastated to have to cancel our Easter concerts, so we have been working really hard in collaboration with production company Positive Note to bring you a really special performance of Bach's St John Passion recorded by the Oxford Bach Soloists…
Find out more »July 2020
Back to Bach: Rosie Moon & Jacob Garside
Our new series Back to Bach reveals how OBS musicians have returned to the works of JS Bach during lockdown. In this first episode, Rosie Moon (violone & double bass) and Jacob Garside (gamba & cello) explore the evolution of polyphony from Gibbons to Bach.
Find out more »August 2020
Back to Bach: Yu-Wei Hu & Johan Löfving
Back to Bach reveals how OBS musicians have returned to the works of JS Bach during lockdown. In this second episode, Yu-Wei Hu (flute) and Johan Löfving (theorbo) explore the Master of melody and harmony.
Find out more »September 2020
Back to Bach: Frances Norbury
Our YouTube series Back to Bach reveals how OBS musicians have returned to the works of JS Bach during lockdown. Mass in F major, BWV 233 Qui tollis peccata Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben, BWV 8 Aria. Was willst du dich, mein Geist, entsetzen (Tenor) Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, Cantata BWV 1 Aria. Erfüllet, ihr himmlischen göttlichen Flammen (Soprano) In this third episode, Frances Norbury (oboe) explores the evocation of emotions through the medium of Bach's obbligato writing. Learn…
Find out more »October 2020
Back to Bach: Elspeth Piggott
Our YouTube series Back to Bach reveals how OBS musicians have returned to the works of JS Bach during lockdown. Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51 In this fourth episode, soprano and OBS choral scholar alumn, Elspeth Piggott, talks about her time in OBS and introduces The Hampstead Collective, a new musical initiative to have risen from the ashes of lockdown. Presenting Bach’s most famous cantata for solo soprano, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV 51, she explores the…
Find out more »Oxford Lieder Festival: Bach and Britten with Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini
Oxford Lieder Festival: Bach and Britten with Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini. This is the first event of four in a day that broadly explores the intersection of sacred and secular in song across the ages. Ian Bostridge’s residency at the Oxford Lieder Festival draws to a close with this wonderful programme, juxtaposing and joining Bach and Britten. Broadcast live from Merton College Chapel.
Find out more »November 2020
Back to Bach: Filippo Turkheimer & Dónal McCann
Our YouTube series Back to Bach reveals how OBS musicians have returned to the works of JS Bach during lockdown. Amore traditore, BWV 203 Concerto in D major after Vivaldi, BWV 972 In this fifth episode, Filippo Turkheimer (bass) and Dónal McCann (harpsichord) explore Bach’s enthralling output during his stint as the Kapellmeister in Cöthen. Bach’s affinity with Italian composers and compositional models strongly pervades throughout his works for the prestigious German court. Indeed, the two works on show—the Italian…
Find out more »December 2020
Back to Bach: Peace be with you
Our YouTube series Back to Bach reveals how OBS musicians have returned to the works of JS Bach during lockdown. Violin Sonata in G, BWV 1021 Der Friede sei mit dir (Peace be with you), BWV 158 Our sixth episode opens with Bach's Violin Sonata in G performed by Jean Paterson, violin, accompanied by Gabriel Amherst, cello and Anhad Arora, harpsichord. They are then joined by Ben Davies, baritone, for Bach's shortest extant cantata. Click to visit our YouTube Channel…
Find out more »Macmillan: Follow the Stars – A Celebration of Christmas
Celebrate the festive season with the Oxford Bach Soloists and a stellar cast of renowned musicians and A-list celebrities for a Carol Concert, re-imagined for 2020, which is being streamed online free to all and can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home.
Find out more »Christmas Baroque at Tilford Bach Society
Corelli, Handel, J S Bach, Purcell. A special feast of Baroque Christmas music, performed in Farnham for the Tilford Bach Society. The Oxford Bach Soloists are joined by Angela Hicks (soprano), William Purefoy (countertenor), Nick Pritchard (tenor), Ben Davies (baritone) in an evening of favourite Christmas highlights.
Find out more »January 2021
Back to Bach: Malcolm Archer
Our online series Back to Bach reveals how OBS musicians have returned to the works of JS Bach during lockdown. In this seventh episode, Malcolm Archer (organist, composer, and conductor) performs excerpts from Bach’s Goldberg Variations from his own studio. Malcolm will perform on the same harpsichord as was used in Episode 6: built by Alan Gotto of Norwich, it is a copy of the 1728 instrument by Christian Zell. Goldberg Variations Aria Variation 13 Variation 16 This concert will…
Find out more »April 2021
Virtual Easter Festival
We are delighted to present our inaugural Virtual Easter Festival this April.
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St John Passion BWV 245
Welcome to the OBS Easter Festival. Join us in the extraordinary setting of Christ Church Cathedral for a brand new immersive production with staging by renowned Director Thomas Guthrie.
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Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4
Day two of our online Easter Festival brings us Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ lay in death's bonds) - BWV 4 - from the intimate setting of New College Chapel. This includes a special lecture from our longterm partner in research, German Mediaevalist Professor Henrike Lähnemann.
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Easter Oratorio
We return to Christ Church Cathedral for day three of our Easter Festival, with the spectacular Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.
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Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret BWV 31
In the final part of our Easter Festival, join us for the peaceful beauty of our smallest piece of the weekend: Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret (Heaven laughs! Earth exults) - BWV 31.
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