Pantomime Villains
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordIn 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’.
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.
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.
Oxford Lieder Festival: Bach and Britten with Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordOxford 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.
Macmillan: Follow the Stars – A Celebration of Christmas
Recorded at Christ Church Cathedral St. Aldates, OxfordCelebrate 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.
Christmas Baroque at Tilford Bach Society
Spire Church (URC) South Street, Farnham, United KingdomCorelli, 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.
Macmillan: Follow the Stars 2021
Christ Church Cathedral St. Aldates, Oxford, United KingdomThe Oxford Bach Soloists will be performing for the second year at the 'A Celebration of Christmas' concert as part of Macmillan Cancer Support's fund-raising activities.
Continuo Workshop
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordBook tickets
Easter Festival: St John Passion
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordOne of Bach’s best-loved works, the St John Passion was first performed on Good Friday of 1724 in St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig. ‘More daring, forceful and poetic’ than the St Matthew Passion, according to Robert Schumann, this operatic work is presented by an Evangelist, ensemble of soloists, four-part choir, strings and basso continuo together with […]
Easter Festival: Easter Oratorio
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordTwo of Bach’s earliest cantatas for Easter Day, Christ lag in Todesbanden and Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubiliert are performed here in their revived Leipzig versions. The story takes us from darkness to blazing light, from grief to joy, echoed in the dramatic Easter Oratorio. Told by four characters Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacobe, Simon […]
Easter Festival: Rejoice You Hearts
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordAbundant joy, rushing swirling scales, and fanfare-like arpeggios set the scene for the Resurrection in Bach’s Cantatas for Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, and Quasimodogeniti (‘Low’ Sunday). Join our virtuoso soloists as they lead us through Bach’s panoply of pastoral colours, brilliant coloratura, and triumphant pageantry. BWV 66 Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen (Rejoice, you hearts) BWV 134 Ein […]
Easter Festival: The Lord is my Shepherd
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordDescribed as ‘one of the truly perfect cantatas, flawless in every detail’, Cantata 104 draws its inspiration from Psalm 23 ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’. Full of leisurely melodies and flourishes, it finds refreshment, green pastures and a foretaste of heaven. As we move towards Christ’s Ascension and departure from the earth, Cantata 166 is […]
Resound, Ye Songs!
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordWatch live-stream! . Bach’s earliest works are often considered to be his most inventive, full of daring ideas. Cantata 12 is one of his most affecting compositions, the opening of which was to find its way into the B minor Mass. Now one year in his post as Thomaskantor, he revived his Pentecost Cantatas 59 […]
Festival of Joy
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordWatch live-stream! A trio of cantatas drawn from earlier works, deftly reworked to suit their new contexts. The Pentecostal cantatas 173 and 184 find their roots in secular Serenatas written for Prince Leopold at Cöthen, their imagery ingeniously preserved so that association between words and music is unharmed. Cantata 194, written for the dedication of […]
Mass in B minor
St John the Evangelist Church 109A Iffley Road, Oxford, United KingdomFeaturing soloists from the Oxford Bach Soloists, this concert presents the culmination of a workshop week with members of the Orlando Chamber Choir. Book tickets
Cancelled: Wake Up!
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordIt is with a heavy heart that we have had to cancel this event. Anyone who has booked a ticket for this event will receive a refund in the upcoming days. In his second cycle of Cantatas at Leipzig, Bach focuses exclusively on the chorale, each Cantata based on the main Lutheran hymn for the […]
Raynham Hall
Raynham Hall Raynham Hall, Fakenham, Norfolk, United KingdomJohann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Cantata 199: Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut Cantata 170: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust Esther Brazil mezzo-soprano Tom Hammond-Davies conductor Hugh Cutting countertenor Book Tickets In 1714 Johann Sebastian Bach was made Konzermeister of the Weimar court orchestra. With this appointment came the responsibility of providing a cantata, once a month for the […]
Bach Motets: Der Geist hilft
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordBach's motets constitute the most perfect and gem-like set amongst his works. They lay at the heart of his work as a teacher and choir-trainer, and grew out of a genre which the Bach family had cultivated for generations. This was the repertory that all his pupils were expected to sing and to master. Der Geist […]
Bach Motets: Lobet den Herrn
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordBach’s motets constitute the most perfect and gem-like set amongst his works. They lay at the heart of his work as a teacher and choir-trainer, and grew out of a genre which the Bach family had cultivated for generations. This was the repertory that all his pupils were expected to sing and to master. Lobet […]
Follow the Stars: Macmillan Carols
Christ Church Cathedral St. Aldates, Oxford, United Kingdom26th Anniversary Concert. Join our celebrities and world class musicians for this popular feast of favourite carols, seasonal choral music and literary readings. Hear John Rutter’s new carol, which was composed especially to celebrate Follow the Stars 25th Anniversary Concert. Help raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. As well as readings from our wonderful celebrity supporters, including Sally Phillips, […]
