Washington Bach Consort Classical Concert Listings

From Expectation to Fulfillment Director’s Series Our season opens with four cantatas that display Bach’s artful inventiveness with the chorale melody, evinced in the carefully wrought musical architecture he builds within and around each. Together they lead us on a musical odyssey—from anticipation to plea, vigilance to fulfilled joy. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, begins with a regal Advent invocation, shaped by an introductory French‑overture movement. At the program’s center stands the rarely heard Nimm von uns, Herr, BWV 101, a strict chorale‑cantata whose unusually sharp dissonances make Bach’s “Vater unser” plea strikingly intense. Wachet auf, BWV 140, offers both animated and serene readiness in its similar chorale-based approach. Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147, concludes the program with joyful assurance, framing each part with the same chorale melody now cherished as “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Read the Program Notes Running Time: Approximately 145 minutes including intermission

Noontime Cantata Series Organ Prelude Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 149, Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707) Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155 Cantata Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39

Noontime Cantata Series Organ Prelude Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 149, Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707) Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155 Cantata Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39

Featuring Renowned Tenor Thomas Cooley Chamber Series The Washington Bach Consort welcomes Thomas Cooley, the internationally acclaimed tenor whose vivid artistry and mastery of early music have made him a leading interpreter of Baroque and pre‑Baroque repertoire worldwide. With a career spanning more than two decades across major stages including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, and Berlin Philharmonie, Cooley brings exceptional dramatic instinct and stylistic command to this exploration of the Baroque’s earliest flowering. This richly curated program traces the emergence of a new musical language in early seventeenth‑century Italy—from the pioneering works of Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini, and Claudio Monteverdi, whose Seconda Prattica reshaped expressive possibility, to the striking originality of Sigismondo d’India and Barbara Strozzi. With Cooley as guide, audiences will encounter the intensity, rhetorical daring, and evolving vocal aesthetic that gave rise to the Baroque. Read the Program Notes Running Time: Approximately 65 minutes without intermission

Featuring Renowned Tenor Thomas Cooley Chamber Series The Washington Bach Consort welcomes Thomas Cooley, the internationally acclaimed tenor whose vivid artistry and mastery of early music have made him a leading interpreter of Baroque and pre‑Baroque repertoire worldwide. With a career spanning more than two decades across major stages including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, and Berlin Philharmonie, Cooley brings exceptional dramatic instinct and stylistic command to this exploration of the Baroque’s earliest flowering. This richly curated program traces the emergence of a new musical language in early seventeenth‑century Italy—from the pioneering works of Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini, and Claudio Monteverdi, whose Seconda Prattica reshaped expressive possibility, to the striking originality of Sigismondo d’India and Barbara Strozzi. With Cooley as guide, audiences will encounter the intensity, rhetorical daring, and evolving vocal aesthetic that gave rise to the Baroque. Read the Program Notes Running Time: Approximately 65 minutes without intermission