past Performances

Debut 2025/26 season

music in heaven’s castle

“With a title inspired by the breathtaking features of the Himmelsburg (Heaven's Castle) chapel in Bach’s Weimar, Germany, and our home, St. Vincent de Paul Church, this program features both beloved and rarely heard gems by three giants of the Baroque period,” says Jason J. Moy,

Bach in the City’s associate music director and the program’s curator. The program offers works by Bach, his close friend and musical colleague Georg Philipp Telemann, and French-born German composer Georg Muffat, an older contemporary of Bach.

Bach’s Musical World

Curated by harpsichordist Jason Moy, Bach in the City’s associate music director, the program places Bach’s music in the context of works by some of his most illustrious friends and acquaintances and one of his greatest influences.

Listeners will hear two of George Phillipp Telemann’s “Paris Quartets” for flute and strings, plus trios by Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, and George Frideric Handel.

St. Mark Passion

“Kudos to Bach in the City for presenting the Chicago premiere of Bach's lost St. Mark Passion. The narrative of Christ's passion and death moved with convincing flow, dramatic intensity and musical variety. While Bach's hand is instantly discernible, what was most surprising was how effectively the composer's music and the new additions melded together. 

The playing of the 19-member orchestra was stylish and well-balanced, the period-instrument timbres adding a nice, raspy edge to the performance. The choral singing was superb across all sections, warmly blended, expressive and imbued with fine Bach style.”
-- Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review

This was a spiritual experience that was sung and played with passion. I hope the reconstructed Passion of St. Mark becomes a Holy Week tradition. I highly recommend attending a Bach in the City performance.
-- Kathy D. Hey, Third Coast Review

Since the St. Mark Passion was a Chicago and Midwest premiere, we experienced how a German audience of Bach’s day would have received such a composition upon hearing it for the first time. To put this another way, Bach’s work no longer lived in the past but was suddenly made brand new and charismatic.
-- Julia W. Rath, Around the Town Chicago