Considered to be the summation of all the composer’s works—if not his greatest—Bach’s Mass in B Minor is nothing short of a masterpiece. Full of lush harmonies and intricate orchestra line, it magnificently weaves together orchestra and vocalists to create a sublimely transcendent work.

Featuring:

Eckart Preu, conductor

Gene Stenger, tenor

ChoralArt, choir

Join the artists for a pre-concert conversation inside the hall at 6:00 PM.

This concert can be heard on Maine Public Classical on May 13, 2026 at 8:00 PM.

Considered to be the summation of all the composer’s works—if not his greatest—Bach’s Mass in B Minor is nothing short of a masterpiece. Full of lush harmonies and intricate orchestra line, it magnificently weaves together orchestra and vocalists to create a sublimely transcendent work. 

Featuring:

Eckart Preu, conductor

Gene Stenger, tenor

ChoralArt, choir

Join the artists for a pre-concert conversation inside the hall at 1:30 PM.

This concert can be heard on Maine Public Classical on May 13, 2026 at 8:00 PM.

Featuring True Concord Choir & Chamber Players

Highlights from Bernstein’s West Side Story & choral arrangements of hits from The Great American Songbook

The perfect culmination of True Concord’s season The American Dream: music from the iconic American musical West Side Story and The Great American Songbook.

Swing to The Great American Songbook, the American pop music of the 1920’s to 50’s, with sounds and songs that reflect who we were and where we came from. When you hear these songs, you know them! This is the music that is in our cultural DNA.

Featuring True Concord Choir & Chamber Players

Highlights from Bernstein’s West Side Story & choral arrangements of hits from The Great American Songbook

The perfect culmination of True Concord’s season The American Dream: music from the iconic American musical West Side Story and The Great American Songbook.

Swing to The Great American Songbook, the American pop music of the 1920’s to 50’s, with sounds and songs that reflect who we were and where we came from. When you hear these songs, you know them! This is the music that is in our cultural DNA.

Featuring True Concord Choir & Chamber Players

Highlights from Bernstein’s West Side Story & choral arrangements of hits from The Great American Songbook

The perfect culmination of True Concord’s season The American Dream: music from the iconic American musical West Side Story and The Great American Songbook.

Swing to The Great American Songbook, the American pop music of the 1920’s to 50’s, with sounds and songs that reflect who we were and where we came from. When you hear these songs, you know them! This is the music that is in our cultural DNA.

Tenor Gene Stenger as The Evangelist

BBS choral director James Bagwell leads soloists, chorus, and orchestra in two performances of the dramatic St. John Passion, Bach’s earliest surviving work in the genre and predecessor to his powerful St. Matthew Passion. These are Berkshire Bach’s first performances of St. John Passion since 1995 and promise to be major choral events in our region. Come hear the statement work that established Bach’s reputation in the Leipzig church music community at his first Easter in the city.

The program lasts 2 hrs 45 minutes and has one intermission about 30 minutes into the work where, in Bach’s time, the music paused for the church sermon.

Sunday, April 12, 2026 | 3pm
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall |Troy, NY
Tickets: 518-273-0038 • tickets.troymusichall.org
Box Office Hours:  Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm

Tenor Gene Stenger as The Evangelist

BBS choral director James Bagwell leads soloists, chorus, and orchestra in two performances of the dramatic St. John Passion, Bach’s earliest surviving work in the genre and predecessor to his powerful St. Matthew Passion. These are Berkshire Bach’s first performances of St. John Passion since 1995 and promise to be major choral events in our region. Come hear the statement work that established Bach’s reputation in the Leipzig church music community at his first Easter in the city.

The program lasts 2 hrs 45 minutes and has one intermission about 30 minutes into the work where, in Bach’s time, the music paused for the church sermon.

Saturday, April 11, 2026 | 3pm
BerkshireBach.org/events
First Congregational Church | Great Barrington, MA

Join the Rockefeller Chapel Choir and Motet Choir, directed by James Kallembach, and a professional baroque orchestra with soloists Gene Stenger as the Evangelist, Sumner Thompson as Jesus, Ryne Cherry as Pilate, and aria soloists Ashley Brewer, Michaël Hudetz, Jeannette Lee, and Anne Rasmussen.

If you have any questions about access or to request a reasonable accommodation that will facilitate your full participation in this event such as ASL interpreting, captioned videos, Braille or electronic text, food options for individuals with dietary restrictions, etc. please contact the event organizer.

Concert Time: 7:30pm CDT (8:30pm EDT)

Campus: Hyde Park Campus

Location: Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

Cost: Tickets: $35 general admission; Students free

Join us for our annual Lent concert featuring Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion—a gripping and deeply moving account of Christ’s final hours, and one of Western music’s greatest masterpieces. Through intimate arias, urgent choruses, and some of the most beautiful chorales ever written, Bach brings the Passion story vividly to life with unmatched emotional and spiritual depth. Whether you’re hearing it for the first time or returning to a cherished favorite, this powerful work offers a profound musical gateway into the heart of Holy Week.

Gene will be joining the Fifth Avenue Chamber Choir and Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Ryan Jackson, singing the role of the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion.

Both available in-person and via livestream .

Seraphic Fire’s annual candlelight concerts - Florida’s most celebrated musical experience - blend ancient music with contemporary masterpieces, creating an ethereal, immersive experience. Featuring music throughout history with thematic connections to water and nature, the finest singing ensemble set in candlelight will take your breath away. Guest conductor Arianne Abela makes her Seraphic Fire debut in this ethereal sonic feast.

Program Includes:

Super flumina babylonis - GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

Canticum calamitatis Maritimae - JAAKKO MÄNTYÄRVI

Seraphic Fire’s annual candlelight concerts - Florida’s most celebrated musical experience - blend ancient music with contemporary masterpieces, creating an ethereal, immersive experience. Featuring music throughout history with thematic connections to water and nature, the finest singing ensemble set in candlelight will take your breath away. Guest conductor Arianne Abela makes her Seraphic Fire debut in this ethereal sonic feast.

Program Includes:

Super flumina babylonis - GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

Canticum calamitatis Maritimae - JAAKKO MÄNTYÄRVI

Seraphic Fire’s annual candlelight concerts - Florida’s most celebrated musical experience - blend ancient music with contemporary masterpieces, creating an ethereal, immersive experience. Featuring music throughout history with thematic connections to water and nature, the finest singing ensemble set in candlelight will take your breath away. Guest conductor Arianne Abela makes her Seraphic Fire debut in this ethereal sonic feast.

Program Includes:

Super flumina babylonis - GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

Canticum calamitatis Maritimae - JAAKKO MÄNTYÄRVI

Seraphic Fire’s annual candlelight concerts - Florida’s most celebrated musical experience - blend ancient music with contemporary masterpieces, creating an ethereal, immersive experience. Featuring music throughout history with thematic connections to water and nature, the finest singing ensemble set in candlelight will take your breath away. Guest conductor Arianne Abela makes her Seraphic Fire debut in this ethereal sonic feast.

Program Includes:

Super flumina babylonis - GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

Canticum calamitatis Maritimae - JAAKKO MÄNTYÄRVI

Two of Bach’s powerful works usher us into the season of renewal and hope. This sonic journey through rich orchestral timbres, contemplative arias, and intense polyphony leads to celebratory strains of joy.

Gene will be performing the tenor aria “Deposuit potentes” from the Magnificat.

Two of Bach’s powerful works usher us into the season of renewal and hope. This sonic journey through rich orchestral timbres, contemplative arias, and intense polyphony leads to celebratory strains of joy.

Gene will be performing the tenor aria “Deposuit potentes” from the Magnificat.

Two of Bach’s powerful works usher us into the season of renewal and hope. This sonic journey through rich orchestral timbres, contemplative arias, and intense polyphony leads to celebratory strains of joy.

Gene will be performing the tenor aria “Deposuit potentes” from the Magnificat.

Composed in 1724, the St. John Passion is a grand and turbulent work produced at the height of Bach’s creative and expressive powers. The foreboding restlessness and tension in the opening chorus propel us into the inner world of John the Evangelist and his dramatic witness of betrayal, torment, and transfiguration in the gospel narrative.  

 Unlike the St. Matthew Passion’s broad themes, St. John explores our personal experience of suffering, anguish, fear, loss, and the enduring sustenance of hope. Amid it all, Bach’s glorious orchestration, counterpoint, and harmonic language sharpen each exquisite moment, from the severe to the sublime. 

Gene will be performing the tenor arias in the St. John Passion.

Composed in 1724, the St. John Passion is a grand and turbulent work produced at the height of Bach’s creative and expressive powers. The foreboding restlessness and tension in the opening chorus propel us into the inner world of John the Evangelist and his dramatic witness of betrayal, torment, and transfiguration in the gospel narrative.  

 Unlike the St. Matthew Passion’s broad themes, St. John explores our personal experience of suffering, anguish, fear, loss, and the enduring sustenance of hope. Amid it all, Bach’s glorious orchestration, counterpoint, and harmonic language sharpen each exquisite moment, from the severe to the sublime. 

Gene will be performing the tenor arias in the St. John Passion.

Composed in 1724, the St. John Passion is a grand and turbulent work produced at the height of Bach’s creative and expressive powers. The foreboding restlessness and tension in the opening chorus propel us into the inner world of John the Evangelist and his dramatic witness of betrayal, torment, and transfiguration in the gospel narrative.  

 Unlike the St. Matthew Passion’s broad themes, St. John explores our personal experience of suffering, anguish, fear, loss, and the enduring sustenance of hope. Amid it all, Bach’s glorious orchestration, counterpoint, and harmonic language sharpen each exquisite moment, from the severe to the sublime. 

Gene will be performing the tenor arias in the St. John Passion

Bach Charlotte’s first-ever WinterFest 2026 offers five days of music across Charlotte, united under the theme Voices of the Baroque and Beyond. This festival features chamber, orchestral, choral, and organ programs that pair beloved masterworks with fresh perspectives. It’s a chance to experience the richness of the Baroque and its enduring influence in a vibrant and thoughtful way.

Exuberant trumpet, soaring voices, and radiant orchestral colors—Vivaldi’s Gloria brims with vitality and joy. This concert will also feature the Bach Lutheran Mass in G Minor, BWV 235 featuring Gene Stenger performing the tenor aria “Qui tollis-Quoniam”.

Bach Charlotte’s first ever WinterFest 2026 offers five days of music across Charlotte, united under the theme Voices of the Baroque and Beyond. This festival features chamber, orchestral, choral, and organ programs that pair beloved masterworks with fresh perspectives. It’s a chance to experience the richness of the Baroque and its enduring influence in a vibrant and thoughtful way.

Radiant and alive with color, this program features Telemann/Bach’s "Jauchzet dem Herrn alle Welt" BWV Anh. 160, and Telemann’s "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" TWV 8:7

Featuring True Concord Choir, Chamber Players & Will Liverman, baritone

In partnership with Tucson Desert Song Festival

Selections from Copland’s Old American Songs, Music of the Sacred Harp Tradition, Classic Hymns and African American Spirituals

Copland’s Old American Songs includes Shall We Gather at the River—a song expressing dreams of a better life—and the beloved Simple Gifts. Copland’s use of the Shaker melody elevated it to the role of an indelible American anthem.

This program includes folk songs by Stephen Foster, considered the father of American music, and Spiritual arrangements by William Grant Still, known as Dean of African American Composers. Standing shoulder to shoulder with these giants is William Billings and the Sacred Harp tradition, perhaps the oldest form of truly American music. Sung a cappella, this music raises the roof!

Featuring True Concord Choir, Chamber Players & Will Liverman, baritone

In partnership with Tucson Desert Song Festival

Selections from Copland’s Old American Songs, Music of the Sacred Harp Tradition, Classic Hymns and African American Spirituals

Copland’s Old American Songs includes Shall We Gather at the River—a song expressing dreams of a better life—and the beloved Simple Gifts. Copland’s use of the Shaker melody elevated it to the role of an indelible American anthem.

This program includes folk songs by Stephen Foster, considered the father of American music, and Spiritual arrangements by William Grant Still, known as Dean of African American Composers. Standing shoulder to shoulder with these giants is William Billings and the Sacred Harp tradition, perhaps the oldest form of truly American music. Sung a cappella, this music raises the roof!

Featuring True Concord Choir, Chamber Players & Will Liverman, baritone

In partnership with Tucson Desert Song Festival

Selections from Copland’s Old American Songs, Music of the Sacred Harp Tradition, Classic Hymns and African American Spirituals

Copland’s Old American Songs includes Shall We Gather at the River—a song expressing dreams of a better life—and the beloved Simple Gifts. Copland’s use of the Shaker melody elevated it to the role of an indelible American anthem.

This program includes folk songs by Stephen Foster, considered the father of American music, and Spiritual arrangements by William Grant Still, known as Dean of African American Composers. Standing shoulder to shoulder with these giants is William Billings and the Sacred Harp tradition, perhaps the oldest form of truly American music. Sung a cappella, this music raises the roof!

Step back in time this holiday season with a candlelit performance of one of the greatest masterpieces of all time—Handel’s Messiah. Crafted in a mere 24 days, Messiah has captivated audiences for centuries since its debut. From the jubilant "For Unto Us a Child is Born" to the awe-inspiring "Hallelujah Chorus," this masterpiece stands as a crowning achievement of Baroque music. This special period performance features our world-class musicians playing historical instruments, just as Handel intended. The warm glow of candlelight will transform the Folly Theater into an 18th-century concert hall, creating an intimate and immersive experience that evokes the wonder and reverence of Messiah’s earliest performances. A beloved tradition reimagined—don’t miss this one unforgettable evening.

Deck the halls with Bach and the brilliance of the Baroque! Celebrate the season with the H+H Orchestra, Chorus, and Resident Conductor Scott Allen Jarrett as they bring you music that overflows with joy and “crackles with spirit” (The Arts Fuse). The holidays shine even brighter with jubilant works by the harmonious duo J.S. Bach and his cousin J.L. Bach, alongside the sparkling beauty of Graupner’s Magnificat.

Music:

Graupner: Magnificat in C Major
J.L. Bach: Uns ist ein Kind geboren
J.S. Bach: Sanctus in C Major, BWV 237
J.S. Bach: Cantata 63, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag

Performed by:

Scott Allen Jarrett, conductor
H+H Orchestra and Chorus

Special Performance:

HHYC Concert Choir

Handel’s beloved Messiah returns to CBE this December, highlighting the holiday season with a complete performance of this brilliant and inspiring masterwork. Composed in 1741, its Dublin premiere began a remarkable ascent as one of the great pillars of classical music in the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide.

Messiah’s endurance is rooted in a message that transcends its formal context: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” Handel’s dramatic orchestration, exquisite Baroque counterpoint, and evocative word painting breathe drama and intimacy into the unfolding narrative of Christ, culminating with a promise of new life, redemption, and enduring hope. 

Handel’s beloved Messiah returns to CBE this December, highlighting the holiday season with a complete performance of this brilliant and inspiring masterwork. Composed in 1741, its Dublin premiere began a remarkable ascent as one of the great pillars of classical music in the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide.

Messiah’s endurance is rooted in a message that transcends its formal context: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” Handel’s dramatic orchestration, exquisite Baroque counterpoint, and evocative word painting breathe drama and intimacy into the unfolding narrative of Christ, culminating with a promise of new life, redemption, and enduring hope. 

Handel’s beloved Messiah returns to CBE this December, highlighting the holiday season with a complete performance of this brilliant and inspiring masterwork. Composed in 1741, its Dublin premiere began a remarkable ascent as one of the great pillars of classical music in the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide.

Messiah’s endurance is rooted in a message that transcends its formal context: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” Handel’s dramatic orchestration, exquisite Baroque counterpoint, and evocative word painting breathe drama and intimacy into the unfolding narrative of Christ, culminating with a promise of new life, redemption, and enduring hope.