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

Mad Scenes are among the most exciting moments in opera! Characters express their mental distractions with high notes, low notes, fast notes, and passionate conviction. In the hands of Baroque masters like Handel and Vivaldi, those moments create pinnacles of drama that tear at your heartstrings as if the characters are people that we know. Sarah Coit and Hadleigh Adams will bring you unforgettable experiences as they move throughout the room and among the audience, delivering gripping theatrics from only an arm's distance away. Of course, specialty cocktails will be designed for the night's theme, and casual cafe-style seating offers easy mingling with the performers.

Madness & Mayhem

San Francisco War Memorial

Back by popular demand, “A Baroque New Year’s Eve at the Opera” will usher in the new year within San Francisco’s beautiful Herbst Theatre. Start an early night on the town with a delightful program of arias, duets, and instrumental music from Baroque opera and concert, with plenty of time left for more celebrations in the evening or an early return home for a peaceful night. Bring your family and friends to celebrate a New Year full of wonderful music.

A Baroque New Year's Eve at the Opera

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

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

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

The faculty mentors of the American Bach Academy represent the highest echelon of Baroque musicians/scholars, each one an accomplished performer with highest international standing. Members of ensembles worldwide as well as having prolific recording discographies, they bring their skills, insights, and expertise to Academy participants. These concerts present opportunities for their students and protégés, along with public audiences, to hear these wonderful moments of collaboration.

Faculty Concerts

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

Come dressed as your favorite season! And get ready for unforgettable experiences as SFBaroque's violinists will play each of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" concertos while moving throughout the room, performing some of the wildest music of the Baroque from only an arm's distance away. Specialty cocktails will be designed for the night's theme, and casual cafe-style seating offers easy mingling with the performers.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Join us as we celebrate the 2022 Jeffrey Thomas Award recipient, Gabriel Benton, along with flutist Bethanne Walker and violinist YuEun Gemma Kim in a recital of works by Bach, Boismortier, and Rameau.

ABS Artist Showcase Series

Handel’s cantata Apollo & Dafne was written in Venice when he was just 24 years old. It tells the story of Apollo’s vanity as he suggests that even Cupid’s bow is no match for his own. Challenging Apollo’s boastfulness, Cupid shoots his arrows and Apollo falls prey to rapturous yearnings for Dafne. She spurns his advances and, in a desperate effort to escape, is transformed into a laurel tree.
Love brings life to a statue in Rameau's Pygmalion. The protagonist sculptor has carved a beautiful marble figure and has fallen desperately in love with his inanimate work of art. He faithfully entreats Venus to turn his handiwork into a breathing, captivating, and singing creature. Love inspires a miracle and triumphs over longing.

Harmonious Love

St. Mark's Episcopal Church

Happy festivity is the theme of this program that features music composed for a banquet and a short ballet titled "A Splendid Wedding," written by Georg Muffat to introduce his musicians to the sounds of Versailles. The mellifluous flauto traverso is brought front and center in Vivaldi's celebration of a singing goldfinch, and truly charming overtures by Maurice Greene — a composer who held all major musical appointments in England and was a founder of the original Academy of Ancient Music — feature a pair of dulcet flutes. The central focal point of this program reflects Bach’s explorations into the most up-do-date styles of his era, coming to monumental fruition in his last works, including “The Musical Offering,” a lofty zenith of the composer's practically scientific application of musical forms that culminates in his most superbly crafted Trio Sonata.

A Musical Feast

A favorite of ABS’s Bay Area audiences, violinist Tatiana Chulochnikova has been praised by the press for her “fiercely pointed” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “fine performances” (The Washington Post), and “thrilling technique and bravura style” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Coupled with the hilltop views of this Saint Francis Woods home, you’ll be treated to a recital of Bach, Tartini, and Telemann, accompanied by plenty of hors d’oeuvres and a sampling of priceless wines from one of the most spectacular wine cellars in San Francisco.
Of special note on the program is a command performance of Tatiana's and Corey's scintillating performance of Tartini's famously difficult "Devil's Trill" Sonata, not to be missed!

"Into the Woods" with ABS

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

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.

In this special abridged evening performance, you’ll hear the Christmas portion (Part I) of Handel’s Messiah along with music of the season by Baroque composers Giovanni Valentini, Johann Christoph Pez, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
Together with the best highlights of Handel's peerless composition, ABS will perform a sweetly captivating concerto for two "pastorale" recorders, an Italian sinfonia composed especially for Christmas, and an evocative musical painting of Christmas night by one of the most treasured composers of the Parisian Baroque.

A Baroque Christmas

Celebrate BACHTOBERFEST in the heart of San Francisco with American Bach Soloists, baritone CHRISTIAN PURSELL, and pianist RONNY MICHAEL GREENBERG.
OCTOBERFEST is a tradition that began in the Bavarian city of Munich in the early 1800s and is now celebrated worldwide. Great music and tasty craft beers are staples of the festivities.

Bachtoberfest

Handel's glorious music for a lavish barge expedition on the River Thames and one of Bach's most treasured orchestral compositions create the pillars that surround a pair of imaginative works by Telemann: an Oboe Concerto that begins with a stupefying introduction and a sweetly sensitive musical characterization of "The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha."

Bach, Barges, and a Burlesque

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.

Belshazzar

The galant styles of High Baroque and Rococo music join hands in the mature works by Bach and Rameau. The Missa in A Major is a curious amalgam of the traditional and contemporary, featuring a pair of a relatively “new” instrument on the scene, the flauto traverso. And the ornate wizardry of Rameau's theatrical Dardanus brought the opera acclaim as one of his greatest compositions. A glance back to the Italian roots of the Baroque is revealed in Handel's and Vivaldi's concertos.

Barococo

We've heard from many in our audiences that one of their favorite ABS performances at our 2019 Festival was "Bach to Bluegrass & Beyond" . Bach’s timeless music has influenced and enlightened performers from all genres who utilize it as a source of harmonic and melodic inspiration. So — back by popular demand! — we're presenting some of the same multi-talented musicians in this summer's exploration titled "Bach & Jazz: Blowin' the Blues Away." The concert is sure to be a box office hit!

Bach & Jazz: Blowin' the Blues Away

Stop by for a mid-week happy hour with hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, and free music performed by ABS Festival artists. Enjoy wine and a signature Festival Cocktail along with spirited performances by a quintet of engaging musicians playing on beautiful 18th-century instruments in one of San Francisco's most elegant destinations.

Happy Hour at Herbst!

Listening to superb chamber music is an exquisite experience unlike any other. Mozart's genius shines through in his Flute Quartet with refinement and grace at every turn. And one of the most alluring sounds of Classical period instruments is created by the clarinet. World-renowned clarinetist Thomas Carroll delivers the silken and velvety sonorities of Mozart's Quintet. And no work from the Classical era has ever eclipsed the sheer excitement and brilliance of Mendelssohn's breathtaking Octet.

Classical Genius

YuEun Gemma Kim moved to the US about eight years ago to study with violinist Midori Goto at University of Southern California where she also grew her passion for Baroque music while playing with the USC Thornton Baroque Sinfonia. Since then, she’s been exploring the early music repertoire which brought her to attend the American Bach Soloists Academy in 2019. Through her breathtaking performances in the recent ABS video, “The Premier Century of the Baroque,” and her show-stopping appearances at the 2021 American Bach Soloists Summer Festival, YuEun Gemma Kim has become an instant favorite among ABS audience members. Gemma will present an exclusive private performance under the shade of beautiful garden trees, accompanied by two ABS colleagues. This outdoor musicale will make a beautiful beginning of the summer season.

YuEun Gemma Kim, violin & Friends

Belvedere-Tiburon home of Jan Goldberg

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. 

Pious & Profane

First Congregational Church

At our "A Baroque New Year's Eve at the Opera" concert in 2019, Sarah Coit brought the house down with her dazzling performances of arias from Handel's Giulio Cesare, Riccardo I ré d’Inghilterra, Theodora, and Ariodante. Two months later, she became the recipient of the 2020 Jeffrey Thomas Award, and she will be heard in December 2021 in ABS's concerts of Handel's Messiah in Grace Cathedral and the Green Music Center. A prize-winner from the George London Foundation and the Handel Aria Competition, her repertoire ranges from the Baroque to operas including The Marriage of Figaro with Michigan Opera Theatre (Cherubino) and The Barber of Seville with Utah Opera (Rosina). An experienced and captivating recital artist, Sarah will present a varied program of some of her favorite works ranging from bravura arias from Baroque opera and musical drama — including Handel's Ariodante and Hercules, Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans — to the deeply moving song cycle by Dominick Argento, "From the Diary of Virginia Woolf."

This program of soulful and moving compositions by four of the German Baroque’s most masterful composers begins with a 10-part setting of “Christ lag in Todesbanden” by Johann Pachelbel. Its seven movements unfold the deep richness of the composer’s reflections on the Easter text that Bach would later use for one of his earliest cantatas. And from the pen of one of Bach’s favorite composers, Dieterich Buxtehude, comes a bittersweet setting of the famous Eastertide chorale, “Jesu, meine Freude,” that would have been a great inspiration to Bach when he composed his own motet setting of the same verses several decades later. One of Bach’s earliest surviving cantatas, “Der Herr denket an uns” (Psalm 115: “The Lord is mindful of us”) is a joyful celebration of gratitude and blessedness that was probably composed to celebrate the wedding of the minister who had married Bach and his wife, Maria Barbara, about a year earlier. The Passion-themed orbit of this program finds its greatest resonance in a truly hypnotic and almost trance-inducing setting of the Saint Matthew Passion by Johann Theile. From its first movement to its last, Theile’s music mesmerizes the listener and grippingly captivates that attention until the final note.

Passion & Joy

Gabriel Benton enjoys a multifaceted career as a harpsichordist, organist, accompanist, and teacher. He began his relationship with ABS at the 2015 Academy, where he played in the American premiere of Marais’ opera Sémélé. Since then, he has joined ABS on several occasions, including performances of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, two recording projects, and as a soloist in Bach’s Triple Concerto in A Minor. A featured artist in ABS’s recent Connoisseur Series Online Edition films, Gabe will perform works by J. S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and German composers Heinrich Scheidemann and Georg Böhm.

Gabriel Benton, harpsichord

Mill Valley home of Kwei and Michele Ü

A favorite of ABS audiences for his performances of Handel’s Messiah in Grace Cathedral and Bach’s Passions, Jesse Blumberg’s “focused baritone is perfect for German lieder, with its finely honed, luminous timbres” (Washington Post). Acclaimed for his “golden tone” by The New York Times, he will present Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis cycle on nine poems by Heinrich Heine along with a selection of songs by one of the first American composers of international renown, Charles Ives.

Jesse Blumberg, baritone & Steven Bailey, piano

Orinda home of Jose & Carol Alonso

ABS violinist Tekla Cunningham — whose playing has been described as “ravishingly beautiful” and “stellar” — will be joined by ABS harpsichordist Corey Jamason in a program of works composed by renowned Dresden composers Pisendel and Veracini, who were famously competitive. The city was also the stage of another notorious duel between harpsichordists Bach and Marchand, who fled the scene rather than face Bach’s keyboard genius. Works by all four composers will be performed.

Tekla Cunningham and Corey Jamason

the San Francisco home of Elizabeth Bonney

Bach greatly admired the music of his forebears and was often criticized for his traditionalist approach to composition. Nevertheless, we find in his music many works that were forward-looking and innovative, favoring the rococo and galant styles that were taking hold throughout Europe.  The Missa in A Major is a curious amalgam of the traditional and contemporary, featuring a pair of a relatively “new” instrument on the scene, the flauto traverso. Bach’s explorations into the most up-do-date styles of his era came to monumental fruition in his last works, including “The Musical Offering,” a lofty zenith of Bach’s practically scientific application of musical forms that culminates in his most superbly crafted Trio Sonata.  Handel’s Water Music Suite that features the Baroque flute is paired with his charming Concerto Grosso in G Major, another work that brings the sweet-toned traverso front and center. Handel’s mellifluous setting of “Look Down, Harmonious Saint,” a paean to harmony by the 18th-century Irish author and poet, Newburgh Hamilton, praises music’s ability to “charm the soul, delight the ear, give us hope, and conquer fear.”

Sweet Harmony

A favorite of ABS’s Bay Area audiences, violinist Tatiana Chulochnikova has been praised by the press for her “fiercely pointed” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “fine performances” (The Washington Post), and “thrilling technique and bravura style” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Coupled with the hilltop views of this Saint Francis Woods home, you’ll be treated to a recital of Bach, Tartini, and Telemann, accompanied by plenty of hors d’oeuvres and a sampling of priceless wines from one of the most spectacular wine cellars in San Francisco.

American Bach Soloists

8 - 11 Mar, 2024

Saint John Passion 300th Anniversary

Jan 26, 2024

Madness & Mayhem

Dec 31, 2023

A Baroque New Year's Eve at the Opera

14 - 15 Dec, 2023

Handel's Messiah in Grace Cathedral

Dec 13, 2023

A Baroque Christmas 4545

American Bach Soloists

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