George Frideric Handel’s Messiah was an instant classic soon after its 1742 premiere and has been a holiday tradition around the world ever since. Through a dramatic series of arias, recitatives, and choruses, Handel offers a musical meditation on Christ’s birth, life, and resurrection—and his message of redemption. Stephen Stubbs leads the SF Symphony and Chorus in this perennial favorite.

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Handel’s Messiah

Davies Symphony Hall

Crude as a gut punch, tender as a kiss, Verdi’s Requiem translates the ancient Latin mass for the dead into the vivid and visceral idiom of Italian opera, bringing divine scripture to the streets, and vice versa. The conductor Hans von Bülow dismissed the Requiem as Verdi’s “latest opera, in ecclesiastical vestments,” but his friend Johannes Brahms disagreed: “Only a genius could have written such a work.

Salonen Conducts Verdi’s Requiem

Summer Festival Chorus 2024

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.

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

No other Bay Area performances come close to offering the visual, aural, and emotional qualities that have made ABS’s Messiah in Grace Cathedral so superlative. Featuring a stellar cast of vocal soloists, American Bach’s annual tradition of performing Handel’s Messiah in San Francisco’s historic Grace Cathedral perennially provides a treasured December holiday event to capacity audiences.

Handel's Messiah in Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral

In this special abridged evening performance, perfect for the whole family, you’ll hear the Christmas portion (Part I) of Handel’s Messiah along with music of the season by Baroque composers including Michel Richard de Lalande and Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The finely tuned voices of the American Bach Choir and the polished sheen of sonorities brought by ABS’s period-instrument orchestra soar within the majestic interior of San Francisco’s Nob Hill landmark. Together with the best highlights of Handel's peerless composition, ABS will perform Charpentier's Messe de Minuit (“Midnight Mass”), one of the most treasured Christmas compositions from the Parisian Baroque.

A Baroque Christmas 4545

Handel offers a musical meditation on Christ’s birth, life, and resurrection—and his message of redemption. An instant classic.

Handel's Messiah

Kick off your holiday season enveloped by the festive sounds of (mostly) English holiday music! Together with the spectacular Golden Gate Brass Quintet and Calvary’s mighty organ, the choir will offer works of Byrd, Elgar, Rutter, Tye, and Chen Yi, plus – a world premiere and three choruses from Handel’s Messiah! Join in the carols and immerse yourselves in the beauty of candlelight and the music of contemplation and joy. Bring the whole family for a magical experience that draws audiences back year after year.

A (Mostly) English Candlelight Christmas

Summer Festival Chorus 2023

One of J.S. Bach’s most joyous and universally popular works, the Magnificat in D Major, brings trumpets, timpani, oboes, flutes, and strings together in a glorious celebration of sound.

The source of one of Bach's most popular duets is a cantata that includes a choral passacaglia, an entrancing aria for tenor and flute, and a flawlessly composed aria for bass and solo oboe.

Bach's tribute to a beloved heroine of Saxony, the Electress Christiane Eberhardine, stands uniquely among his most extraordinary works. The rich orchestration, including two violas da gamba, supports the distinguished poetry of one of the greatest reformers of the German language of all time. Each group of instruments is featured in movements that include an astonishingly pictorial recitative depicting bells.

Magnificat in D Major

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

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

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

Join us in 2022-23 for a season of vibrant musical experiences and a multitude of creative perspectives.

Britten's War Requiem

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.

No other Bay Area performances come close to offering the visual, aural, and emotional qualities that have made ABS’s Messiah in Grace Cathedral so superlative.
The finely tuned voices of the American Bach Choir and the polished sheen of sonorities brought by ABS’s period-instrument orchestra soar within the majestic interior of San Francisco’s Nob Hill landmark.
Our annual tradition of performing Handel’s Messiah in San Francisco’s historic Grace Cathedral perennially provides a treasured December holiday event to capacity audiences. A Bay Area holiday tradition now in its 24th year, ABS’s performances of Handel’s timeless work have become an essential part of the musical year for many music lovers and have attracted audiences of more than 50,000 from around the world.

The San Francisco Symphony writes: George Frideric Handel’s Messiah was an instant classic soon after its 1742 premiere and has been a holiday tradition around the world ever since. Through a dramatic series of arias, recitatives, and choruses, Handel offers a musical meditation on Christ’s birth, life, and resurrection—and his message of redemption. Masaaki Suzuki leads the SF Symphony and Chorus in this perennial favorite. 

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

A dramatic account of the fall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the first Persian empire, and the ensuing freeing of the Jewish nation as told by Daniel, the noble youth of Jerusalem, is the subject of Handel's oratorio, composed during the peak of his creative life. After falling into neglect after Handel's death, 21st-century revivals of this splendid music have been presented in Zurich and Aix-en-Provence. A central and guiding character of Queen Nitocris, the mother of Belshazzar, encourages the story's triumphant ending.

Oratorio events in San Francisco, CA

Handel’s Messiah

San Francisco Symphony

Salonen Conducts Verdi’s ...

San Francisco Symphony

Summer Festival Chorus 20...

San Francisco Choral Society

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

San Francisco Bach Choir

Romantic Radiance

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chora...

Saint John Passion 300th ...

American Bach Soloists

Handel's Messiah in Grace...

American Bach Soloists

A Baroque Christmas 4545

American Bach Soloists

Handel's Messiah

San Francisco Symphony

A (Mostly) English Candle...

San Francisco Bach Choir

Summer Festival Chorus 20...

San Francisco Choral Society

Magnificat in D Major

American Bach Soloists

Mass in B Minor

American Bach Soloists

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

San Francisco Bach Choir

Britten's War Requiem

San Francisco Symphony

Handel’s Messiah

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chora...

Handel's Messiah in Grace...

American Bach Soloists

Handel's Messiah

San Francisco Symphony

Handel’s Theodora

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chora...

Belshazzar

American Bach Soloists