Bach's thrilling Orchestral Suite No. 1, full of surprises and unexpected fun, opens this concert of early cantatas composed in service to the Weimar dukes at the legendary ‘Schlosskirche’ (Castle Church). 

Wooburn Singers is an auditioned chamber choir of 50 singers in South Buckinghamshire, founded by Richard Hickox in 1967. For this event they will be supported by the Oxford Bach Soloists baroque orchestra, directed by Tom Hammond-Davies.

One of Bach’s best loved works, the St John Passion was first performed on Good Friday of 1724 in the St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig. This operatic piece is presented by an ensemble of soloists, chorus, and orchestra, ‘Daring, forceful and poetic’ – Robert Schumann.

Bach’s festive scoring with trumpets and drums tells the story of the Resurrection through Simon Peter, John the Apostle, Mary Magdalene, and Mary Jacobe.

Bach's Cantata for New Year's Day with hunting calls and timpani opens this concert on a pastoral theme, bringing together some unusual colours in Cantata 18 for four violas. The concert ends with the famous 'Hunting Cantata' featuring the favourite aria 'Sheep may safely graze'.

Bach's lavishly scored Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major with fiery Cantatas for Pentecost and Trinity Sunday.

Almost 30 years before Handel's Messiah in 1741, "Worthy is the Lamb" was the inspiration behind the final movement of Bach's Cantata 21 'Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis'.

Handel and Bach never met, though they both studied with the great Dietrich Buxtehude. Bach's solo alto Cantata 'Widerstehe doch der Sünde' is flanked by Buxtehude's joyful Cantata 'Alles, was ihr tut', and Handel's virtuosic 'Dixit Dominus'. (N.B. This performance will take place at St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford, OX1 3EY)

Bach's vivacious and sparkling Concerto in A major in its original form for Oboe d'amore BWV 1055R, with his graphic and alarmingly-titled solo soprano cantata 'Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut' BWV 199.

Handel's Coronation Anthems and 'Dettingen' Te Deum. The opulence and grandeur of the Baroque is celebrated in this concert featuring coronation anthems Handel wrote for King George II and his magnificent Dettingen Te Deum first performed in 1743 in the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace, London.

Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 transcribed by the composer for Keyboard to exceptional effect, and the indescribably charming Cantata 'Komm, du süße Todesstunde' setting the well-known German hymn-melody, the so-called Passion Chorale, Hassler's 'Herzlich thut mich verlange'.

Bach at his most playful! The early wedding cantata 'Der Herr denket an uns' BWV 196, the famous “St. Anne” fugue for organ, with the festive motet 'Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden' BWV 230, and the rude and light-hearted ‘Wedding Quodlibet’ BWV 524.

A service of Lutheran Vespers featuring Bach's Cantata 180 'Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele' (Adorn thyself, dear soul). New College Choir, conducted by Robert Quinney.

“Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar…” Two cellos conjure up an irresistible picture of coin-polishers at work, swinging and striking their hammers in Bach's Cantata 163 Nur jedem das seine.

Bach's Advent Cantatas with a rousing French 'Ouverture' and divine angels hovering round the manger, hold us in breathless suspense with arresting, unexpected dissonances, and extravagant kaleidoscopic colours.

*SOLD OUT* N.B. Walk-ups will be admitted to the ante-chapel. This will be on a first-come-first-served basis and cost £20. (Doors open at 4pm).
Oxford’s most evocative seasonal event with an authentic performance of JS Bach’s much-loved telling of the Christmas story (Parts I-III). The perfect way to start your Christmas Eve!

We will be hosting a unique event as a thank you to our Friends with a wonderful programme created around our concert that day, Cantatas for the New Year.

Unique among Bach’s church music, Cantata 152 for the 1st Sunday after Christmas in 1714 is scored for recorders, viola d’amore, viola da gamba, and oboe. These ‘old fashioned’ instruments, chosen for their tender qualities, create an exquisitely delicate intimacy.

A service of Lutheran Vespers featuring Bach’s Cantata 18 Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt. This dramatic cantata, written for Sexagesima Sunday, is richly scored for four violas and shows Bach’s vivid use of the latest operatic styles of the early 18th century.

In December 1722 Bach was keen to leave Köthen and applied for the cantorate of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Anxious to woo the reluctant Leipzigers, who were not particularly disposed to appoint him, he diplomatically presented himself as a composer on quite modest lines. At his audition on 7th February 1723 he performed Cantatas 22 and 23 which, despite slim forces of oboe and strings, contain some of the most affecting and imaginative music in the cantata repertoire.