One of Bach’s most powerful and dramatic works, his St. John Passion illuminates our rich human story through its vivid music and emotional text. Join us for an epic journey of sublime music – music that travels through turmoil and tragedy to ultimate reconciliation and consolation. With professional soloists and orchestra.

EPSG:4326

J.S. Bach: St. John Passion

First Congregational Church of Berkeley

Calvary Presbyterian Church

Mendelssohn’s ever-popular violin concerto, full of drama and exquisite melody, here accompanies a real rarity—Schumann’s hauntingly beautiful Requiem. Written after he had committed himself to an asylum, it’s a fantastic showcase for the rich, resonant sound of the Philharmonia Chorale. A feast for lovers of the romantic era of music and a suitably dramatic way to finish our season.

Romantic Radiance

First Congregational Church

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

Stanford University

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.

Saint John Passion 300th Anniversary

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

Saint Mark's Episcopal Church

Davis Community Church

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

With Grand Community Chorus including: First Congregational Church Choir, Muskegon Community College Choir, Muskegon Chamber Choir and other community singers.

Requiem

Perhaps the greatest choral work ever written, J.S. Bach‘s masterwork offers a journey of heart and soul: dazzling, tender, and powerful. Although universally recognized as a pinnacle of human creativity, at its core the Mass in B-Minor is a personal expression of spiritual devotion that transcends religious boundaries.

J.S. Bach Mass in B-Minor

Handel’s Messiah is one of those pieces which we think we all know, and then we sit in front of it and are once again wowed and reminded just what a genius Handel was. How many works have SO many great tunes? How many of them bear repeated listening, revealing new things each time? How many take you on a dramatic roller coaster encompassing rage, sorrow, joy, and jubilation? How many can still pack an emotional gut-punch even though you’ve heard them before? Messiah can.
In this pre-holiday treat Music Director Richard Egarr is back and joined by a top-flight roster of great soloists. Join us and be uplifted.

Handel’s Messiah

In the 1700s Handel took London by storm, penning hit after hit for what we might now consider to be the West End Stage. Theodorahad all the hallmarks of being the next such hit, but circumstance was to intervene—rather improbably in the form of an earthquake which drove much of Handel’s audience from the city. This masterpiece therefore took a little longer to develop—an oratorio that has a different feel than many of his other works—more contemplative, personal and reflective, and with music of great serenity and beauty. It was rumored to be one of the composer’s favorite works, and on hearing its spellbinding arias—brought to life here by countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Thomas Cooley, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and soprano Julie Roset in the title role—we are very sure you’ll leave thinking the sam.

Handel’s Theodora

First United Methodist Church

This deeply personal masterpiece is both intimate and universal, and a profound expression of human loss. With its exploration of sorrow and transformation, Brahms’ sublime music transports, comforts, and uplifts us; a welcome balm in today’s chaotic world.

Composed after the death of his mother, the Requiem is scored for large orchestra and a chorus of 200. Enjoy this rare opportunity to experience an intimate chamber orchestra version which retains both the variety and richness of the original, but at a scale more suitable to our size and venues.

Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem

The performance will be accompanied by a Symposium discussing the Passion text and religious implications and will include talks by the noted Bach scholar, Michael Marissen, UC Berkeley's Professor Emeritus, Richard Taruskin, and an Introduction and Listener's guide to the work by Harry Gray. The Symposium will culminate in a round table discussion on all aspects of the piece that will include Nicholas McGegan and members of the Cantata Collective. This event is FREE to the public and will be followed by an Instrumental Chamber Concert by Cantata Collective. The Symposium and Concert will take place at St. Clement's Episcoal Church on the afternoon and evening of March 20. The 2022 BACH WEEKEND is generously underwritten by the KAVAH Fund.

McGegan conducts Bach - St. John Passion

How does a white millennial man create a work that explores the topographies of gentrification and displacement? Engaging the mind of poet Saul Williams, composer Ted Hearne confronts this issue head-on in Place, a fiery yet thoughtful oratorio created in collaboration with director Patricia McGregor.  The fully staged, evening-length work—seen here in its West Coast premiere—features six vocalists and an 18-member ensemble that blends the energy of R&B, rock, and electronic music with acoustic orchestral sonorities. A true dialogue, the first part of the libretto is a collage of Hearne’s own autobiographical reflections, which are placed in conversation with—and overtly challenged by—Williams’ trenchant text in the second half, which addresses displacement through the lens of settler colonialism, police violence, and Afrofuturism.  The cast recording of the work received two Grammy nominations this year. “Place takes shape in songs that emerge like a graffiti mural as repetitive gestures gradually bloom into vibrant, brash statements in high-volume color…. It always felt as if Mr. Hearne was questioning his own comfort and—in the final moment—his power” (The New York Times).

Theatre: Ted Hearne and Saul Williams’ Place

University of California, Berkeley

Bach’s B Minor Mass is one of the towering achievements of the Baroque, and indeed of all classical music. It is the summation of Bach’s creative output, but likely never performed in his lifetime.

Oratorio events in Berkeley, CA

J.S. Bach: St. John Passi...

San Francisco Bach Choir

Romantic Radiance

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chora...

Saint John Passion 300th ...

American Bach Soloists

Requiem

Shoreline Community Orchestra

J.S. Bach Mass in B-Minor...

San Francisco Bach Choir

Handel’s Messiah

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chora...

Handel’s Theodora

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chora...

Brahms Ein deutsches Requ...

San Francisco Bach Choir

McGegan conducts Bach - S...

Cantata Collective

Theatre: Ted Hearne and S...

Cal Performances

Mass in B Minor

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chora...