Singer

Celebrate the 300th anniversary of the creation of this masterwork!

The great Passions of J. S. Bach remain unparalleled in their dramatic impact and universally experienced emotional effects. Bach took the genre to new worlds of expression, incorporating new Italianate operatic elements with the Lutheran tradition of sung chorales. The result is a powerful force of rhetoric that tells the Passion story reinforced by personalized illuminations.

This is music that transcends cultural, religious, and theatrical boundaries between performers and audience members, drawing in listeners as historical participants. Maestro Thomas, one of the Baroque music world’s most celebrated Bach specialists, brings his unique and insightful perspectives to the podium in definitive performances that are profoundly beautiful and moving.

EPSG:4326

Saint John Passion 300th Anniversary

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church

Davis Community Church

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

Bach’s Mass in B Minor is the pinnacle of Baroque repertoire and ABS’s now renewed annual performances draw audiences to San Francisco from around the world.

Under the meticulous and insightful direction of Jeffrey Thomas, these performances of the Mass in B Minor — Johann Sebastian Bach’s consummate masterwork — bring eye-opening revelations of Bach’s score that draws upon 35 years of his compositions.  

Recognized worldwide as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Bach and the Baroque, Maestro Thomas continues to inspire audiences and performers alike through his keen insights into the passions behind musical expression. Fanfare Magazine proclaimed that “Thomas’ direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music… there is no higher praise for Bach performance.” 

Mass in B Minor

St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco

Among Bach's musicians were some of the greatest virtuosi in Germany. His trumpeters were legendary, and he directed performances by some of the finest court orchestras. "Bravura Bach" celebrates the artistry of the American Bach Soloists as they perform an eclectic sampling of some of Bach's most challenging compositions. The impetuous concerto for harpsichord in D minor, the third Brandenburg Concerto — which requires 11 superlative performers — and the brilliant vocal and trumpet fireworks of "Jauchzet Gott" celebrate Bach at his best! More magic is in store with two works by Vivaldi: "Laudate pueri" and an atmospheric concerto for bassoon titled "La Notte." Telemann's Sinfonia Spirituoso will have its first performances by ABS.

Bravura Bach

The Early Baroque era of Italian music brought a zenith of dramatic and technical display in the hands of new generations of virtuoso singers and instrumentalists. Composers and performers united in their course of revealing new depths of expression, color, and theatrical effects through music that is immediately thrilling and enthralling.  From the delicate and spatial interplay of three violins in Marini’s Sonata in Ecco to the full-throated and lovelorn dramatic vocal works of Monteverdi — including two epic narratives from his Madrigals of Love and War — this is a program that moves from mystery to magic and from the sacred to the secular.  Headliner works are Isabella Leonarda’s entrancing Sonata XII, Monteverdi’s Magnificat a 6 from the Vespers of 1610, and the same composer’s powerfully arresting setting of Torquato Tasso’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. An ensemble of evocative ABS artists brings this passionate music to light in a program featuring vocal and violinistic fireworks. 

Hélène Brunet

Soprano

Events

8 - 11 Mar, 2024

Saint John Passion 300th Anniversary · American Bach Soloists

Jul 30, 2023

Mass in B Minor · American Bach Soloists

3 - 6 Feb, 2023

Bravura Bach · American Bach Soloists

Apr 29 - May 2, 2022

Pious & Profane · American Bach Soloists

About

Hélène Brunet hasn't added a bio