Sound In My Body
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordThroughout the long summer and autumn Trinitarian period, the Lutheran lectionary’s emphasis on sin and sickness in mind and body reaches full tilt in expressions such as ‘The whole world is but a hospital’ in Cantata 25. But Bach’s music is the ‘balm of Gilead’ that heals all, above the ceaseless lament.
Help My Unbelief
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordThe cantatas Bach was writing at this time deal with the theme of Christians rejecting the material world and its temptations so as not to risk losing union with God. Cantata 162 relates to the parable of the royal wedding feast to which ‘many are called but few are chosen’.
Lutheran Vespers
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordA service of Lutheran Vespers featuring Bach’s Cantata 115 Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit. Performed by New College Choir, conducted by Robert Quinney, with the orchestra of the Oxford Bach Soloists.
Macmillan: A Celebration of Christmas
Recorded at Christ Church Cathedral St. Aldates, OxfordThe 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.
Bath Recitals: A Baroque Christmas
St Michael's Church Broad Street, BathOxford Bach Soloists welcomed as guests of the Bath Recitals: 'A Baroque Christmas' which brings the Bath Recitals 2019 programme to a seasonal close.
Magnificat: Cantatas for Christmas
New College Chapel Holywell Street, Oxford** 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.
The Magi
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordHot 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.
Calm the Storm
New College Chapel Holywell Street, OxfordCantata 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.
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’.
St John Passion from Isolation
YouTubeThank 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 […]
Back to Bach: Rosie Moon & Jacob Garside
YouTubeOur 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
YouTubeBack 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.
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. […]
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 […]
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.
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. […]
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 […]
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, FarnhamCorelli, 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.
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 […]
