Waiting RoomWelcome to the 62nd season of the Bach Festival Society of Kalamazoo. We're delighted to bring you a varied concert season filled with exemplary vocal, orchestral and instrumental music.

We begin this season with the timeless and wonderful music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This music will be presented through traditional vocal, harpsichord performances as well as by mandolins, guitars and recorders.

The Bach Festival Chorus will perform a "mini-concert" in November at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in conjunction with their "Spared from the Storm" exhibition. Here, we'll perform spirituals composed by Moses Hogan (a native of New Orleans) and French Christmas carols. Music from a variety of continents will be performed by the Bach Festival Chorus and the Western Brass Quintet at our annual BachFest Christmas! concert. This concert will feature traditional European Baroque and classical works as well as a newly commissioned carol by local composer and Bach chorus member Victor Garcia, and additional works from around the world.

We are especially excited to welcome back Cantus to Kalamazoo. Their program will tell the story of the journey through life from the cradle to the grave. Don't miss this opportunity to hear one of America's finest professional male vocal ensembles.

Our finale concert presents the glorious works of George Frederic Handel and Franz Joseph Haydn in the year that recognizes the anniversary of their deaths.

We hope you find this season as exciting as I do, and I hope to see you in the performance halls!

Sincerely,

Jim Turner, Music Director

Kalamazoo Bach Festival presents Cantus in Concert
2/19/09
Cantus, one of America’s finest vocal ensembles, sings with one of the freshest and most engaging sounds in choral music today. Cantus’ brilliant sound and heart-felt singing have garnered the highest praise from critics and audiences alike. Cantus’ concert, entitled “A Sound Like This,” will feature adventurous programming spanning many periods and genres, including chant, contemporary works, art song, folk, spirituals, world music and pop. Cantus will perform in concert on Thursday, March 26th, 8:00 p.m., at Portage Northern High School Auditorium.
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11th Annual High School Choral Festival - A Master Class for Choirs
1/19/09
Come and hear how beautiful choral music is created during the Kalamazoo Bach Festival's 11th annual High School Choral Festival on Wednesday and Thursday, February 11 and 12, at Kalamazoo College . Timothy Takach, a member of the internationally known vocal ensemble Cantus, will coach ten school choirs from across southwest Michigan . Each choir will prepare two pieces to sing for Mr. Takach and an audience of the other participating choirs, their conductors, and any area music lovers who would like to attend. Mr. Takach will coach each choir in turn in a master class, non-adjudicated format.
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Bach Fest Christmas!
11/8/08
Kalamazoo Bach Festival's 38th annual concert of joyous Christmas music will be presented on December 14th at 4:00 pm. Performed in Kalamazoo College's beautifully decorated Stetson Chapel, the Bach Festival Chorus, under the direction of Jim Turner, will be joined by the Western Brass Quintet, Janet Hill on organ and piano, and guest guitarists Miles Kusik, Jackie Zito and Victor Garcia, to bring you music of composers Mendelssohn, Willcocks, Vaughn Williams, Britton, and others. The refrains of familiar carols and other seasonal music will be a wonderful gift to share with friends and family as the holiday season approaches.
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Kalamazoo Bach Festival Season "Begins with Bach"
10/10/08
The Kalamazoo area is known for its abundance of very talented musicians. To open its 62nd season, the Kalamazoo Bach Festival will present "Beginning With Bach", a collage concert on Friday, October 10, at 8:00 p.m. in the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College, featuring the timeless music of J.S. Bach presented by some of the area's finest vocalists and instrumentalists. Performers will be master musicians Phyllis Rappeport on harpsichord and Yu-Lien The on alto recorder, the Aspire Ensemble Vocal Quartet, and the Kalamazoo Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra. Click to Read Full Article > > >
Kalamazoo Bach Festival to perform Rachmaninoff's Vespers
4/17/08
Many choirs don't perform Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vespers because of its choral complexity. For this a cappella performance, a choir must execute Russian language and diction, maintain perfect pitch, blend 70 voices, and someone, somewhere has to hit a low B flat (the third B flat below middle C).
The Bach Festival Chorus, led by music director Jim Turner, will perform this challenging piece as the Festival Finale Concert in the acoustically and architecturally stunning First Congregational Church, downtown Kalamazoo on May 17, at 8:00 p.m. Click to Read Full Article > > >
Bach Festival presents 'A Valentine Concert - from Bach to Broadway'
1/17/08
The Kalamazoo Bach Festival will present A Valentine Concert -From Bach to Broadway, Saturday, February 9, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. in the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College, 1200 Academy Street.
The concert offers a variety of highlights including the performance of Bach's Bist Du Bei Mir, the only love song ever written by the famous composer, as well as selections from the operas "Porgy and Bess," "Rigoletto," "Romeo and Juliet" and "Candide." Click to Read Full Article > > >