Diary archive
April 2022

Biber: the Sorrowful Mysteries
Saturday 9 April, 4.00 pm
Saxon Shore Early Music: St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, Kent TN26 2NF
Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak perform the second cycle of H.I.F. Biber’s Rosary or Mystery sonatas. This cycle is concerned with the death of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by J.P. Sweelinck and Heinrich Scheidemann. Interspersing the music are poems on the themes of Easteride, read by Cardinal Vincent Nichols. Find out more
December 2021

A musical offering
Saturday 18 December, 7.30 pm
Georgian Concert Society: St Andrew’s & St George’s West, 13 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PA
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears. Find out more

Biber: the Joyful Mysteries
Thursday 9 December, 7.00 pm
Cambridge Early Music: Little St Mary’s Church, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1QG
Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak play the first five of Biber’s Mystery or Rosary sonatas, concerned with the birth of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play music by composers of Biber’s time. Find out more

A musical banquet
Sunday 5 December, 3.00 pm
Seaford Music Society: Seaford Baptist Church, Belgrave Road, Seaford BN25 2EE
A festive programme of Baroque music from various European countries. Find out more
July 2021

All Bach
Saturday 24 July, 7.00 pm
King’s Lynn Festival: St Nicholas’ Chapel, St Ann’s Street, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1NH
For our first concerts since March 2020 and the eruption here of the Covid pandemic, we return to the music of J.S. Bach. Substantial pieces that feature the flute open and close the concert: the B minor Orchestral Suite and the fifth Brandenburg Concerto. These great works are complemented by two arrangements of music from his keyboard masterpieces: Canons from the Goldberg Variations, and a selection of Fugues from the Art of Fugue. Find out more

All Bach
Wednesday 21 July, 3.00 pm
Haddo House, Methlick, Ellon, Aberdeenshire AB41 7EQ
For our first concerts since March 2020 and the eruption here of the Covid pandemic, we return to the music of J.S. Bach. Substantial pieces that feature the flute open and close the concert: the B minor Orchestral Suite and the fifth Brandenburg Concerto. These great works are complemented by two arrangements of music from his keyboard masterpieces: Canons from the Goldberg Variations, and a selection of Fugues from the Art of Fugue.
Find out more

All Bach
Sunday 18 July, 3.00 pm
Concerts at Cratfield: St Mary’s, Church Road, Cratfield, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 0BU
This concert has now been cancelled
Find out more

Bach and Buxtehude: 25th anniversary concert
Thursday 15 July, 7.30 pm
St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA
Coming out of the long break of the Covid pandemic, we return to our founding inspiration: the music of J.S. Bach, complemented here with a piece by Dieterich Buxtehude, Bach’s admired older colleague. The group was founded in 1996 and gave its first concerts the following year. So this is also a 25th anniversary celebration. Rachel Elliott has been the Bach Players’ regular soprano voice: she sang in the first concerts of 1997 and sings here in two pieces. Buxtehude’s ‘Quemadmodum desiderat cervus’ is a glorious, exulting piece in hypnotic chaconne form. Bach’s secular Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, with its beautiful Sinfonia and elaborate flute parts, is a lesser known gem. Two of Bach’s most celebrated works complete the programme. The fifth Brandenburg Concerto gives solo parts to flute, violin and harpsichord. The canons from the Goldberg Variations are played here in an arrangement by Silas Wollston for strings and basso continuo – Bach’s mathematics has never sounded so delightful. Find out more

All Bach
Friday 9 July, 7.30 pm
Chichester Chamber Concerts: Assembly Room, Chichester Council House, North Street, Chichester PO19 1LQ
For our first concerts since March 2020 and the eruption here of the Covid pandemic, we return to the music of J.S. Bach. Substantial pieces that feature the flute open and close the concert: the B minor Orchestral Suite and the fifth Brandenburg Concerto. These great works are complemented by two arrangements of music from his keyboard masterpieces: Canons from the Goldberg Variations, and a selection of Fugues from the Art of Fugue. Find out more

A musical offering
Tuesday 6 July, 8.00 pm
Leamington Music: St Mary’s Church, Old Square, Warwick CV34 4RA
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears. Find out more

Bach and Buxtehude
Tuesday 6 July, 5.00 pm
Leamington Music: St Mary’s Church, Old Square, Warwick CV34 4RA
Coming out of the long break of the Covid pandemic, The Bach Players return to their founding inspiration: the music of J.S. Bach, complemented here with a piece by Dieterich Buxtehude, Bach’s admired older colleague. Buxtehude’s ‘Quemadmodum desiderat cervus’ is a glorious, exulting piece in hypnotic chaconne form. Bach’s secular Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, with its beautiful Sinfonia and elaborate flute parts, is a lesser known gem. Two of Bach’s most celebrated works complete the programme. The fifth Brandenburg Concerto gives solo parts to flute, violin and harpsichord. The canons from the Goldberg Variations are played here in an arrangement by Silas Wollston for strings and basso continuo – Bach’s mathematics has never sounded so delightful. Find out more
January 2021

Bach and Goldberg: master and student
Thursday 28 January, 7.30 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
Chichester Chamber Concerts: Assembly Room, Chichester Council House, North Street, Chichester PO19 1LQ
Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was a virtuoso harpsichordist employed by Hermann Karl von Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to Saxony, who commissioned a set of variations from Bach to combat his sleeplessness. Goldberg was their first performer. As well as being a student of Bach, Goldberg was a composer in his own right, and we play one of his works – a trio sonata that was thought for a time to be one of Bach’s compositions. We also play Silas Wollston’s arrangement of Canons from the Goldberg variations, and two of J.S. Bach’s great works that feature the flute: Brandenburg 5, and the B minor orchestral suite.
Find out more

All Bach
Tuesday 26 January, 5.00 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
Leamington Music: St Mary’s Church, Old Square, Warwick CV34 4RA
We return to the music of J.S. Bach in two concerts of about an hour each. At 5 pm we play two of Bach’s great works that feature the flute: the B minor Orchestral Suite and the fifth Brandenburg Concerto. These are complemented by the Canons from the Goldberg Variations, played in an orchestration by Silas Wollston. Then at 7.30 pm we open with fugues from the Art of Fugue, and then play one of Bach’s masterworks, his Musical Offering. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed, with each section following in coherent succession. It will be a chance to hear this famous work with fresh ears.
Find out more

A musical offering
Saturday 23 January, 7.30 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
Georgian Concert Society: St Andrew’s & St George’s West, 13 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PA
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The fashionable flute features in the Paris quartets by Telemann, Bach’s close contemporary. No. 6 in E minor is in the French galant style – a succession of character pieces, culminating in a wonderful chaconne. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears.
Find out more
December 2020

Biber: the Joyful Mysteries
Tuesday 8 December, 7.30 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
Great St Mary’s, Senate House Hill, Cambridge CB2 3PQ
In this concert Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak play the first five of Biber’s Mystery or Rosary sonatas, concerned with the birth of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by composers of Biber’s time: Buxtehude and Pachelbel.
Find out more
November 2020

The Grand Tour
Sunday 29 November, 3.00 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
Seaford Music Society: St Leonard’s Church, Church Street, Seaford BN25 1LR
Music by French, English, German, and Italian composers that one might have heard on an eighteenth-century ‘grand tour’.
Find out more
October 2020

Bach and Goldberg: master and student
Sunday 4 October, 3.00 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
Haddo House, Methlick, Ellon, Aberdeenshire AB41 7EQ
Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was a virtuoso harpsichordist employed by Hermann Karl von Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to Saxony, who commissioned a set of variations from Bach to combat his sleeplessness. Goldberg was their first performer. As well as being a student of Bach, Goldberg was a composer in his own right, and we play one of his works – a trio sonata that was thought for a time to be one of Bach’s compositions. We also play Silas Wollston’s arrangement of Canons from the Goldberg variations, and two of J.S. Bach’s great works that feature the flute: Brandenburg 5, and the B minor orchestral suite.
Find out more

Bach and Goldberg: master and student
Friday 2 October, 7.30 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA
Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was a virtuoso harpsichordist employed by Hermann Karl von Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to Saxony, who commissioned a set of variations from Bach to combat his sleeplessness. Goldberg was their first performer. As well as being a student of Bach, Goldberg was a composer in his own right, and we play one of his works – a trio sonata that was thought for a time to be one of Bach’s compositions. We also play Silas Wollston’s arrangement of Canons from the Goldberg variations, and two of J.S. Bach’s great works that feature the flute: Brandenburg 5, and the B minor orchestral suite.
Find out more
September 2020

Bach and Goldberg: master and student
Wednesday 30 September, 7.30 pm
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was a virtuoso harpsichordist employed by Hermann Karl von Keyserlingk, the Russian ambassador to Saxony, who commissioned a set of variations from Bach to combat his sleeplessness. Goldberg was their first performer. As well as being a student of Bach, Goldberg was a composer in his own right, and we play one of his works – a trio sonata that was thought for a time to be one of Bach’s compositions. We also play Silas Wollston’s arrangement of Canons from the Goldberg variations, and two of J.S. Bach’s great works that feature the flute: Brandenburg 5, and the B minor orchestral suite.
Find out more
July 2020

The Grand Tour
Saturday 11 July, 5.00 pm
St Swithin’s Church, Clunbury, Shropshire SY7 0HG
Music by French, English, German, and Italian composers that one might have heard on an eighteenth-century ‘grand tour’.
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled Find out more

The Grand Tour
Friday 10 July, 7.00 pm
Burgh House, New End Square, Hampstead, London NW3 1LT
Music by French, English, German, and Italian composers that one might have heard on an eighteenth-century ‘grand tour’.
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled Find out more
June 2020

The Grand Tour
Thursday 25 June, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Music by French, English, German, and Italian composers that one might have heard on an eighteenth-century ‘grand tour’.
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled Find out more
April 2020

Biber: the Sorrowful Mysteries
Saturday 4 April, 7.30 pm
Saxon Shore Early Music: St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, Kent TN26 2NF
Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak perform the second cycle of H.I.F. Biber’s Rosary or Mystery sonatas. This cycle is concerned with the death of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by J.P. Sweelinck and Heinrich Scheidemann.
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled Find out more
March 2020

Biber: the Sorrowful Mysteries
Sunday 29 March, 5.00 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak perform the second cycle of H.I.F. Biber’s Rosary or Mystery sonatas. This cycle is concerned with the death of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by J.P. Sweelinck and Heinrich Scheidemann.
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled
Find out more

Biber: the Sorrowful Mysteries
Sunday 15 March, 5.00 pm
St Swithin’s Church, Clunbury, near Craven Arms, Shropshire SY7 0HG
Following their first Biber concert at St Swithin’s, in December 2018, Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak perform the second cycle of the Rosary or Mystery sonatas. This cycle is concerned with the death of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by J.P. Sweelinck and Heinrich Scheidemann. The concert will take place in this beautiful parish church, built originally in the twelfth century.
>>> As a precaution against spreading Covid-19, this concert has been cancelled Find out more

Stabat Mater
Saturday 7 March, 7.30 pm
St Dominic’s Priory, Southampton Road, London NW5 4LB
Pergolesi’s setting of the Stabat Mater text was hugely popular and remains so – it is often thought of as ‘the’ version of the Stabat Mater. The concert also includes the Sinfonia and Sonata al Santo Sepolcro by Vivaldi – his only sacred instrumental pieces. These deeply affecting works enhance the drama of the Stabat Mater. The concert will run without an interval and will take place in the intimate setting of the church’s Lady Chapel.
After the concert, the friars invite you for drinks (included in the price of the ticket), and there will be time to look at the wonderful
interior architecture of St Dominic’s. Find out more
January 2020

Pour le souper du roi
Wednesday 22 January, 7.30 pm
Influence Church, Victoria Road, Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL10 4AS
This programme paints a musical picture of the chamber music presented to Louis XIV by his favourite composers. Composers who were allowed into the inner circle of the king were given the title ‘musicien pour la chambre du Roy’: their tasks included providing music for the king in his private rooms. Some of the best chamber music of the period was written for these occasions. Find out more
December 2019

Biber: the Joyful Mysteries
Wednesday 4 December, 7.30 pm
Clitheroe Grammar School, Sixth Form Centre, York Street, Clitheroe, Lancashire BB7 2DJ
In this concert Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak play the first five of Biber’s Mystery or Rosary sonatas, concerned with the birth of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by composers of Biber’s time: Buxtehude and Pachelbel. Find out more

A European Christmas
Sunday 1 December, 5.00 pm
St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA
A concert in celebration of Advent and Christmas, starting with music from the Austro-Italian seventeenth-century Catholic tradition; from the Annunciation to the birth of Jesus, with the focus on Mary and the baby Jesus. After the interval: the eighteenth-century Lutheran tradition in Germany with two cantatas by J. S. Bach: ‘Schwingt freudig euch empor’, composed for the first Sunday in Advent, and ‘Selig ist der Mann’, composed for second Christmas day. Find out more
November 2019

A European Christmas
Thursday 28 November, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
A concert in celebration of Advent and Christmas, starting with music from the Austro-Italian seventeenth-century Catholic tradition; from the Annunciation to the birth of Jesus, with the focus on Mary and the baby Jesus. After the interval: the eighteenth-century Lutheran tradition in Germany with two cantatas by J. S. Bach: ‘Schwingt freudig euch empor’, composed for the first Sunday in Advent, and ‘Selig ist der Mann’, composed for second Christmas day. Find out more

A musical offering
Sunday 3 November, 3.30 pm
Brighton Early Music Festival: St Paul’s Church, West Street, Brighton BN1 2RE
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears. Find out more
October 2019

Couperin: l’Art de la Danse
Sunday 20 October, 2.00 pm
Two Moors Festival: New Assembly Room, South Molton, Devon EX36 3AB
We present a variety of François Couperin’s instrumental compositions in both the Italian and French styles: formal dances and character pieces, sonatas and harpsichord solo pieces. Our dancers will dance where appropriate. This is an exploration: can music be danced to, if it was not in the first place composed to be danced to? At the centre of the programme is Jean-Féry Rebel’s composition ‘Les Caractères de la Dance’, written as an interval piece for solo dancer. Find out more
May 2019

Mystery Sonatas
Friday 24 May, 8.15 pm
Oud-Katholieke Kerk ’t Huis te Poort, Dam 30, 3111 BD Schiedam, The Netherlands
Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak play a selection of Biber’s Mystery (or Rosary) Sonatas. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by composers of Biber’s time. Find out more

Mystery Sonatas
Sunday 19 May, 6.30 pm
St Saviour’s Church, Eton Road, South Hampstead, London, NW3 4SU
Nicolette Moonen and Pawel Siwczak play a selection of Biber’s Mystery (or Rosary) Sonatas. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by composers of Biber’s time. Find out more

Dance of the Nations
Saturday 11 May, 7.15 pm
London Festival of Baroque Music: St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA
The Bach Players join hands with Ricardo Barros’s Mercurius Company to present a concert that embodies the European idea in music and dance. Musicians and dancers have always travelled, both in mind and in body, and this programme will take you on a journey across the Continent: from Russia and Turkey, through Switzerland, Italy, France, and on to Spain and Portugal. Our performers come from Brazil, Britain, Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands. The music will be both played and danced to, providing an enjoyable reminder that dance was fundamental to music in the baroque period, and part of the fabric of everyday life then. Telemann’s suite ‘Les Nations’, in which the characters of European countries are depicted in music, is followed by Rebel’s ‘Les caractères de la danse’: a compendium of the main dance forms of the period, performed by Ricardo Barros. Vivaldi’s passionate and hugely popular set of variations on ‘La Follia’ takes on fresh meanings when danced out. The concert concludes with Telemann’s ‘burlesque’ of Don Quixotte. The Spanish nobleman of Cervantes’s novel lives in an imaginary world in which he chases windmills and hankers after sweet Dulcinée. He prefers his fantasies to the reality of the world: a fable for the times in which we live? The concert will be presented in the round, in the main body of the church, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Find out more

A hop and step across the Channel: learn to dance a Gavotte and a Menuet with Ricardo Barros
Saturday 11 May, 10.30 am
London Festival of Baroque Music: St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA
Follow English dancing master Mr Isaac’s footsteps and hop across the channel for a dancing ‘entente cordiale’. Learn contredanses in the two most popular forms of the Baroque period: the gavotte ‘La Bonne Amitié’ by Feuillet (1706) and the ‘Menuet Anglois’ by Lorin (1698).
Find out more
Dance of the Nations
Thursday 9 May, 7.30 pm
The Garage, 14 Chapel Field North, Norwich NR2 1NY
The Bach Players join hands with Ricardo Barros to present a concert that embodies the European idea in music and dance. Artists have always travelled and this programme will take you on a journey across the continent. Some of the music will be danced to, providing an enjoyable reminder that dance was fundamental to music in the baroque period. Telemann’s suite ‘Les Nations’, in which the characters of European countries are depicted in music, is followed by Rebel’s ‘Les Caractères de la danse’: a compendium of the main dance forms of the period. In Telemann’s ‘burlesque’ of Don Quichotte the Spanish nobleman of Cervantes’s novel lives in an imaginary world in which he chases windmills and hankers after sweet Dulcinée. A fable for the times in which we live? The concert concludes with Vivaldi’s passionate and hugely popular set of variations on ‘La Follia’. The concert can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
Find out more
March 2019

The Seven Last Words
Sunday 31 March, 5.00 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
In the approach to Easter, The Bach Players perform Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words in the version for string quartet. Haydn’s composition was extraordinarily popular in his own time; following the original composition for full orchestra, he wrote the chamber version and then another for orchestra and choir. Charles Burney, who heard an early performance of the version for string quartet, wrote in 1791 that it was ‘perhaps, the most sublime composition without words to point out its meaning that has ever been composed’. The concert will be played without an interval. Find out more

The Seven Last Words
Saturday 30 March, 7.30 pm
St Dominic’s Priory, Southampton Road, London NW5 4LB
In the approach to Easter, The Bach Players perform Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words in the version for string quartet. Haydn’s composition was extraordinarily popular in his own time; following the original composition for full orchestra, he wrote the chamber version and then another for orchestra and choir. Charles Burney, who heard an early performance of the version for string quartet, wrote in 1791 that it was ‘perhaps, the most sublime composition without words to point out its meaning that has ever been composed’. The concert will take place in the Lady Chapel, and will be played without an interval. Find out more
December 2018

Biber: the Joyful Mysteries
Sunday 9 December, 5.00 pm
St Swithin’s Church, Clunbury, Shropshire SY7 0HG
In the days leading up to Christmas, Nicolette Moonen (violin) and Pawel Siwczak (organ) perform the first five of the Rosary Sonatas by H.I.F. Biber (1644–1704). In these sonatas, Biber’s highly descriptive music addresses and describes the birth of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by composers of Biber’s time. The concert will take place in this beautiful parish church, built originally in the twelfth century, and will be candlelit. Find out more
October 2018

A musical offering
Saturday 20 October, 8.15 pm
Paaskerk Baarn, Oude Utrechtseweg 4a, 3743 KN Baarn, The Netherlands
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The fashionable flute features in the Paris quartets by Telemann, Bach’s close contemporary. No. 6 in E minor is in the French galant style – a succession of character pieces, culminating in a wonderful chaconne. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears. Find out more

A musical offering
Thursday 18 October, 7.30 pm
St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The fashionable flute features in the Paris quartets by Telemann, Bach’s close contemporary. No. 6 in E minor is in the French galant style – a succession of character pieces, culminating in a wonderful chaconne. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears.
Find out more

A musical offering
Wednesday 17 October, 7.30 pm
Dorset County Museum Concert Society: St Mary’s Church, Edward Road, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 2HJ
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The fashionable flute features in the Paris quartets by Telemann, Bach’s close contemporary. No. 6 in E minor is in the French galant style – a succession of character pieces, culminating in a wonderful chaconne. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears. Find out more

A musical offering: the art of eloquence
Sunday 14 October, 3.00 pm
Little Missenden Festival: Church of St John the Baptist, Little Missenden, Amersham, Bucks HP7 0RA
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that looks both back to the tradition in which he worked and forwards to the music of his sons. We play this dazzling piece in the context of music by Bach’s esteemed elders: Buxtehude and Pachelbel Find out more

A musical offering
Saturday 13 October, 7.30 pm
Saxon Shore Early Music: St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, Kent TN26 2NF
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that both looks back to the tradition in which he was grounded and forward to the music of his sons. The concert opens with a sonata by Buxtehude, Bach’s admired elder: we hear the ‘stylus phantasticus’ in full flight, with its unpredictable structures and sometimes startling improvisatory freedoms. The fashionable flute features in the Paris quartets by Telemann, Bach’s close contemporary. No. 6 in E minor is in the French galant style – a succession of character pieces, culminating in a wonderful chaconne. The Musical Offering is often taken to be a disjointed collection of fragments, dominated by the culminating, beautiful trio sonata. This performance treats the work as an essay in the musical rhetoric in which Bach was immersed. The succession of canons and fugues become a speech – a musical oration, in which factual statements are then elaborated on and developed in argumentative sections, interspersed with charming passages that may seduce the listener. The sonata then gives free rein to the whole spectrum of emotions. The work concludes with a final, calming ‘perpetual canon’. This is a chance to hear Bach’s famous piece with fresh ears. Find out more

A musical offering: the art of eloquence
Thursday 11 October, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) is a late work that looks both back to the tradition in which he worked and forwards to the music of his sons. We play this dazzling piece in the context of music by Bach’s esteemed elders: Buxtehude and Pachelbel Find out more
September 2018

Couperin: l’Art de la Danse
Sunday 2 September, 3.00 pm
Utrecht Early Music Festival: Hertzzaal Tivoli Vredenburg, Vredenburgkade 11, 3511 WC Utrecht
We present a variety of François Couperin’s instrumental compositions in both the Italian and French styles: formal dances and character pieces, sonatas and harpsichord solo pieces. Our dancers will dance where appropriate. This is an exploration: can music be danced to, if it was not in the first place composed to be danced to? At the centre of the programme is Jean-Féry Rebel’s composition ‘Les Caractères de la Dance’, written as an interval piece for solo dancer. Find out more
July 2018

Italy versus France
Thursday 5 July, 7.00 pm
Burgh House, New End Square, Hampstead, London NW3 1LT
Italian or French? In the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Europe, two national musical styles were seen as opposing and in contest, though composers increasingly brought them together. This concert brings the styles to life in works by some of the brilliant composers of the times: Corelli, Couperin, Clérambault, Rameau. We are playing in a perfect setting: the wood-panelled music room at Burgh House Find out more

Italy versus France
Wednesday 4 July, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Italian or French? In the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Europe, two national musical styles were seen as opposing and in contest, though composers increasingly brought them together. This concert brings the styles to life in works by some of the brilliant composers of the times: Corelli, Couperin, Clérambault, Rameau Find out more
May 2018

Pour le souper du roi
Sunday 13 May, 3.00 pm
London Festival of Baroque Music: St Peter’s Church, Eaton Square, 119 Eaton Square, London SW1W 9AL
This programme paints a musical picture of the chamber music presented to Louis XIV and Louis XV. The featured composers were among their favourites, allowed into the inner circle of the king and given the title ‘musicien pour la chambre du Roy’: their tasks included providing music for the king in his private chambers. Some of the best chamber music of the period was written for these occasions. The concert offers a rich and various banquet of preludes, suites, sonatas and character pieces, and shows the passage from French to Italian styles. Find out more

Biber: the Glorious Mysteries
Saturday 12 May, 7.30 pm
St Dominic’s Priory, Southampton Road, London NW5 4LB
The third of three concerts in which Nicolette Moonen (violin) and Pawel Siwczak (organ) perform all of the Rosary Sonatas by H.I.F. Biber (1644–1704) – by candle light, in the appropriate side-chapels at St Dominic’s, and in the appropriate liturgical season. In this concert they play the third cycle of sonatas, concerned with the resurrection of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by composers of Biber’s time. After the concert (which runs for about an hour), the Dominican friars invite the audience for drinks, and there will be time to look at the wonderful interior architecture of St Dominic’s. Families with children are very welcome to attend.
Find out more
March 2018

Stabat Mater
Tuesday 13 March, 7.30 pm
Leamington Music: St Mary’s Church, Old Square, Warwick CV34 4RA
Boccherini’s Stabat Mater is a work of compelling intensity that stands out among the many settings of this text. We are performing the original, chamber version of the piece, scored for string quintet with two cellos; interspersed will be movements from Haydn’s The Seven Last Words. As well as shared themes there is a historical connection here: it is possible that Boccherini, a great admirer of his older colleague, played a part in securing the commission for Haydn to write The Seven Last Words, first performed in Cadiz. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Boccherini’s Stabat Mater. Find out more

Stabat Mater
Saturday 10 March, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Boccherini’s Stabat Mater is a work of compelling intensity that stands out among the many settings of this text. We are performing the original, chamber version of the piece, scored for string quintet with two cellos; interspersed will be movements from Haydn’s The Seven Last Words. As well as shared themes there is a historical connection here: it is possible that Boccherini, a great admirer of his older colleague, played a part in securing the commission for Haydn to write The Seven Last Words, first performed in Cadiz. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Boccherini’s Stabat Mater.
Find out more
Stabat Mater
Thursday 8 March, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Boccherini’s Stabat Mater is a work of compelling intensity that stands out among the many settings of this text. We are performing the original, chamber version of the piece, scored for string quintet with two cellos; interspersed will be movements from Haydn’s The Seven Last Words. As well as shared themes there is a historical connection here: it is possible that Boccherini, a great admirer of his older colleague, played a part in securing the commission for Haydn to write The Seven Last Words, first performed in Cadiz. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Boccherini’s Stabat Mater. Find out more
February 2018

Biber: the Sorrowful Mysteries
Saturday 24 February, 7.30 pm
St Dominic’s Priory, Southampton Road, London NW5 4LB
The second of three concerts in which Nicolette Moonen (violin) and Pawel Siwczak (organ) perform all of the Rosary Sonatas by H.I.F. Biber (1644–1704) – by candle light, in the appropriate side-chapels at St Dominic’s, and in the appropriate liturgical season. In this concert they play the second cycle of five sonatas, concerned with the death of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Also included will be Gregorian chant, sung by the friars of St Dominic’s. After the concert (which runs for about an hour), the Dominican friars invite the audience for drinks, and there will be time to look at the wonderful interior architecture of St Dominic’s. Families with children are very welcome to attend.
Find out more
December 2017

Biber: the Joyful Mysteries
Saturday 2 December, 7.30 pm
St Dominic’s Priory, Southampton Road, London NW5 4LB
The first of three concerts in which Nicolette Moonen (violin) and Pawel Siwczak (organ) perform all of the Rosary Sonatas by H.I.F. Biber (1644–1704) – by candle light, in the appropriate side-chapels at St Dominic’s, and in the appropriate liturgical season. In this concert they play the first five sonatas, concerned with the birth of Christ and the events that surrounded it. Pawel Siwczak will also play organ music by composers of Biber’s time. After the concert (which runs for about an hour), the Dominican friars invite the audience for drinks, and there will be time to look at the wonderful interior architecture of St Dominic’s. Families with children are very welcome to attend. Find out more
October 2017

Sound the trumpet!
Sunday 22 October, 5.00 pm
Saxon Shore Early Music: St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, Kent TN26 2NF
To mark our twentieth anniversary, we return to our beginnings to present an all-Bach programme: two joyous, well-known cantatas, complemented by two celebrated instrumental works. ‘Weichet nur betrübte Schatten’ is a wedding canata for solo soprano voice; ‘Jauchzet Gott’ gives virtuosic parts to solo soprano and trumpet. The trumpet is featured also in Brandenburg Concerto no. 2. We will also play selections from the Art of Fugue. This will be a special, celebratory event. Find out more

The Food of Love
Saturday 14 October, 7.45 pm
Georgian Concert Society: St Andrew’s & St George’s West, 13 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PA
Shakespeare’s plays were at the heart of the Restoration theatrical repertory. Freely adapted, with lavish music and spectacular staging, a number of them remained popular even after a new Restoration repertory had developed. In this programme, music by Henry Purcell is placed alongside that of his predecessors, Matthew Locke and Robert Smith, and of his pupil John Weldon, painting a picture of changing musical approaches to the words of the bard. The programme also includes the earliest surviving setting of a sonnet by Shakespeare, an adaptation of Sonnet no. 116 by Henry Lawes. Find out more

Sound the trumpet!
Saturday 7 October, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
To mark our twentieth anniversary, we return to our beginnings to present an all-Bach programme: two joyous, well-known cantatas, complemented by two celebrated instrumental works. ‘Weichet nur betrübte Schatten’ is a wedding canata for solo soprano voice; ‘Jauchzet Gott’ gives virtuosic parts to solo soprano and trumpet. The trumpet is featured also in Brandenburg Concerto no. 2. We will also play selections from the Art of Fugue. This will be a special, celebratory event – with extra features to be revealed on the night. Find out more

Sound the trumpet!
Thursday 5 October, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
To mark our twentieth anniversary, we return to our beginnings to present an all-Bach programme: two joyous, well-known cantatas, complemented by two celebrated instrumental works. ‘Weichet nur betrübte Schatten’ is a wedding canata for solo soprano voice; ‘Jauchzet Gott’ gives virtuosic parts to solo soprano and trumpet. The trumpet is featured also in Brandenburg Concerto no. 2. We will also play selections from the Art of Fugue. This will be a special, celebratory event. Find out more
July 2017

In the Company of Gods: music by François Couperin, Marin Marais, and Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Friday 7 July, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
The court of Louis XIV did indeed become a parnassus – a source for some of the greatest music and poetry of the time. In this concert we focus on private music for the King, by Marin Marais, François Couperin, Jean Philippe Rameau – and Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. She is often introduced as a ‘woman composer’, but as the three pieces played here will show, she transcends any category. Her work can display drama, intensity, and great artistic subtlety. No wonder that Évrard Titon du Tillet in his Parnasse français (1732) gave her a place on Mount Parnassus alongside Marais and Couperin. This will be a rare chance to hear Jacquet de La Guerre, in the company with which she so clearly belongs. Find out more

In the Company of Gods: music by François Couperin, Marin Marais, and Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Wednesday 5 July, 7.00 pm
Burgh House, New End Square, Hampstead, London NW3 1LT
The court of Louis XIV did indeed become a parnassus – a source for some of the greatest music and poetry of the time. In this concert we focus on private music for the King, by Marin Marais, François Couperin, Jean Philippe Rameau – and Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. She is often introduced as a ‘woman composer’, but as the three pieces played here will show, she transcends any category. Her work can display drama, intensity, and great artistic subtlety. No wonder that Évrard Titon du Tillet in his Parnasse français (1732) gave her a place on Mount Parnassus alongside Marais and Couperin. This will be a rare chance to hear Jacquet de La Guerre, in the company with which she so clearly belongs. Find out more
May 2017

Rameau: Pièces de clavecin en concerts
Sunday 14 May, 6.30 pm
St Michael’s Church, Cobham Close, Battersea, London SW11 6SP
A feast of Jean Philippe Rameau: his Pièces de clavecin en concerts, with some shorter works by him and his contemporaries
Find out more
March 2017

Stabat Mater
Saturday 25 March, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
In praise of the Virgin Mary: Pergolesi’s setting of the Stabat Mater text, the Concerto Madrigalesco by Vivaldi and one of his Sonatas al Santo Sepolcro, and a Mystery Sonata by Biber Find out more

Stabat Mater
Thursday 9 March, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
In praise of the Virgin Mary: Pergolesi’s setting of the Stabat Mater text, the Concerto Madrigalesco by Vivaldi and one of his Sonatas al Santo Sepolcro, and a Mystery Sonata by Biber Find out more
February 2017

Pour le souper du roi
Wednesday 15 February, 7.30 pm
Dorset County Museum Concert Society, Dorset County Museum, High West Street, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1XA
This programme paints a musical picture of the chamber music presented to Louis XIV by his favourite composers. Composers who were allowed into the inner circle of the king were given the title ‘musicien pour la chambre du Roy’: their tasks included providing music for the king in his private rooms. Some of the best chamber music of the period was written for these occasions. Find out more

Pour le souper du roi
Sunday 12 February, 6.30 pm
St Michael’s Church, Cobham Close, Battersea , London SW11 6SP
This programme paints a musical picture of the chamber music presented to Louis XIV by his favourite composers. Composers who were allowed into the inner circle of the king were given the title ‘musicien pour la chambre du Roy’: their tasks included providing music for the king in his private rooms. Some of the best chamber music of the period was written for these occasions. Find out more
December 2016

Christmas concert
Saturday 17 December, 8.15 pm
Paaskerk Baarn, Oude Utrechtseweg 4a, 3743 KN Baarn, The Netherlands
An anthology of seasonal music from Advent to Christmas, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, and from all over Europe Find out more

Handel's Messiah: come & sing + concert
Saturday 3 December, 7.00 am
Heath Street Choir (Joe Wagott, director)
with The Bach Players (Nicolette Moonen, leader)
Heath Street Baptist Church, 84 Heath Street, London NW3 1DN
The Bach Players join Heath Street Choir in a come & sing day, leading to a concert performance of Handel’s Messiah in the evening. Soloists include Rachel Elliott (soprano). This is in aid of the Panzi Hospital, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Find out more
October 2016

Coffee and cabbage
Sunday 9 October, 5.00 pm
Saxon Shore Early Music: St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, Kent TN26 2NF
Two of J.S. Bach’s loved secular cantatas – essentially small-scale operas for soprano and bass voices – are given in the context of his fifth Brandenburg Concerto and canons from the Goldberg Variations Find out more

Coffee and cabbage
Saturday 8 October, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Two of J.S. Bach’s loved secular cantatas – essentially small-scale operas for soprano and bass voices – are given in the context of his fifth Brandenburg Concerto and canons from the Goldberg Variations Find out more

Coffee and cabbage
Thursday 6 October, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Two of J.S. Bach’s loved secular cantatas – essentially small-scale operas for soprano and bass voices – are given in the context of his fifth Brandenburg Concerto and canons from the Goldberg Variations Find out more
September 2016

Pour le souper du roi
Saturday 17 September, 7.30 pm
Totnes Early Music Society, St Mary’s Church, High Street, Totnes TQ9 5NN
This programme paints a musical picture of the chamber music presented to Louis XIV by his favourite composers. Composers who were allowed into the inner circle of the king were given the title ‘musicien pour la chambre du Roy’: their tasks included providing music for the king in his private rooms. Some of the best chamber music of the period was written for these occasions. Find out more
August 2016

The Seasons
Sunday 21 August, 7.30 pm
Binham Priory, Binham, Norfolk NR21 0DQ
A summer concert of music by Vivaldi, Biber, Guido, and others. This is programmatic music, expressing the themes of nature. You will hear cuckoos, nightingales, frogs, ducks, and thunder too. Although some of these composers are not well known, this is music that will appeal to anyone – and especially to children Find out more
July 2016

Pour le souper du roi
Wednesday 20 July, 7.00 pm
Fenton House, Hampstead Grove, Hampstead, London, NW3 6SP
This programme paints a musical picture of the chamber music presented to Louis XIV by his favourite composers. Composers who were allowed into the inner circle of the king were given the title ‘musicien pour la chambre du Roy’: their tasks included providing music for the king in his private rooms. Some of the best chamber music of the period was written for these occasions. Find out more
June 2016

Stabat Mater
Saturday 11 June, 7.30 pm
Music in Lyddington: St Andrew’s, Lyddington
In praise of the Virgin Mary: Pergolesi’s setting of the Stabat Mater text, the Concerto Madrigalesco by Vivaldi and one of his Sonatas al Santo Sepolcro, and a Mystery Sonata by Biber Find out more

The Food of Love
Saturday 4 June, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Shakespeare’s plays were at the heart of the Restoration theatrical repertory. Freely adapted, with lavish music and spectacular staging, a number of them remained popular even after a new Restoration repertory had developed. In this programme, music by Henry Purcell is placed alongside that of his predecessors, Matthew Locke and Robert Smith, and of his pupil John Weldon, painting a picture of changing musical approaches to the words of the bard. The programme also includes the earliest surviving setting of a sonnet by Shakespeare, an adaptation of Sonnet no. 116 by Henry Lawes. Find out more

The Food of Love
Thursday 2 June, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Shakespeare’s plays were at the heart of the Restoration theatrical repertory. Freely adapted, with lavish music and spectacular staging, a number of them remained popular even after a new Restoration repertory had developed. In this programme, music by Henry Purcell is placed alongside that of his predecessors, Matthew Locke and Robert Smith, and of his pupil John Weldon, painting a picture of changing musical approaches to the words of the bard. The programme also includes the earliest surviving setting of a sonnet by Shakespeare, an adaptation of Sonnet no. 116 by Henry Lawes. Find out more
March 2016

Laments for Passiontide
Saturday 5 March, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
The lament became an established musical genre and in this concert we present examples of this expressive form over two centuries, from Italy and Austria. Perhaps the first example of the musical lament was Monteverdi’s ‘Lamento d’Arianna’: a five-part madrigal, performed here with soprano and strings and continuo. Monteverdi later adapted the piece for a sacred text: his ‘Pianto della Madonna’. Haydn reworked his ‘Arianna a Naxos’ aria as a Marian lament, ‘Maria quaerit Christum filium’, for soprano and string quartet. In addition we perform passionate works by Monteverdi’s near-contemporary Merula, by Schmelzer (who worked in Vienna) and by Vivaldi (at whose funeral in Vienna Haydn might have sung). Find out more

Laments for Passiontide
Thursday 3 March, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
The lament became an established musical genre and in this concert we present examples of this expressive form over two centuries, from Italy and Austria. Perhaps the first example of the musical lament was Monteverdi’s ‘Lamento d’Arianna’: a five-part madrigal, performed here with soprano and strings and continuo. Monteverdi later adapted the piece for a sacred text: his ‘Pianto della Madonna’. Haydn reworked his ‘Arianna a Naxos’ aria as a Marian lament, ‘Maria quaerit Christum filium’, for soprano and string quartet. In addition we perform passionate works by Monteverdi’s near-contemporary Merula, by Schmelzer (who worked in Vienna) and by Vivaldi (at whose funeral in Vienna Haydn might have sung).
Find out more
November 2015

Bach’s library
Saturday 14 November, 7.30 pm
Saxon Shore Early Music: St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, Kent TN26 2NF
A selection of pieces that J.S. Bach had in his library and which provide a context for his celebrated Orchestral Suite in B minor Find out more
October 2015

Bach and before: music at St Thomas's Leipzig
Saturday 31 October, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Music by three predecessors of J.S. Bach as Kantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig – Schein, Schelle, Kuhnau – and the first cantata that Bach composed for his new job there: the magnificent ‘Die Elenden sollen essen’ (BWV 75) Find out more

Bach and before: music at St Thomas's Leipzig
Thursday 29 October, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Music by three predecessors of J.S. Bach as Kantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig – Schein, Schelle, Kuhnau – and the first cantata that Bach composed for his new job there: the magnificent ‘Die Elenden sollen essen’ (BWV 75) Find out more

Pour le souper du roi
Saturday 10 October, 7.30 pm
Finchcocks Musical Museum, Goudhurst, Kent, TN17 1HH
This programme paints a musical picture of the chamber music presented to Louis XIV by his favourite composers. Composers who were allowed into the inner circle of the king were given the title ‘musicien pour la chambre du Roy’: their tasks included providing music for the king in his private rooms. Some of the best chamber music of the period was written for these occasions. Find out more
July 2015

The Seasons
Saturday 18 July, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
A summer concert of music by Vivaldi, Biber, Guido, and others. This is programmatic music, expressing the themes of nature. You will hear cuckoos, nightingales, frogs, ducks, and thunder too. Although some of these composers are not well known, this is music that will appeal to anyone – and especially to children Find out more

The Seasons
Thursday 16 July, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
A summer concert of music by Vivaldi, Biber, Guido, and others. This is programmatic music, expressing the themes of nature. You will hear cuckoos, nightingales, frogs, ducks, and thunder too. Although some of these composers are not well known, this is music that will appeal to anyone – and especially to children Find out more
June 2015

Baroque in the summertime
Saturday 27 June, 8.00 pm
The Derwent Singers (Richard Roddis, conductor)
with The Bach Players (Nicolette Moonen, leader)
St Mary’s Church, Bridge Gate, Derby DE1 3AU
A concert featuring the music of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries. The Missa Brevis in A major is a joyous and sparkling work, sunny in nature although composed for Christmas. Bach knew Pergolesi’s expressive ‘Stabat Mater’, and even made his own arrangement of it. There will be movements from two Cantatas, and the great motet ‘Singet dem Herrn’ Find out more
May 2015

'A wonder has appeared in Paris': Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Sunday 17 May, 3.30 pm
London Festival of Baroque Music: The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN
Chamber music composed by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, including solo pieces for the harpsichord played by Béatrice Martin – in the exquisite surroundings of the Wallace Collection Find out more

An Italian in Paris
Thursday 7 May, 7.30 pm
The Cobbe Collection, Hatchlands Park, East Clandon, GU4 7RT
Works by the first composers in France to explore the Italian style, this concert features Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, celebrated in the year of her 350th anniversary. More than a mere ‘woman composer’ (though she was, and under difficult conditions), Jacquet de La Guerre’s music is consistently rich, surprising, and rewarding. This is a rare chance to hear her music played in concert. Find out more
March 2015

A musical offering
Tuesday 24 March, 7.30 pm
Leamington Music: St Mary’s Church, Warwick
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) and festive music by Buxtehude and Telemann Find out more

A grand tour of Europe
Saturday 21 March, 7.30 pm
Sevenoaks Music Club: Ship Theatre, Sevenoaks
Music by French, English, German, and Italian composers that one might have heard on an eighteenth-century ‘grand tour’ Find out more
February 2015

A musical offering
Saturday 28 February, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) and festive music by Buxtehude and Telemann Find out more

Stabat Mater
Thursday 26 February, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater, and the astonishing and rarely heard ‘Il pianto di Maria’ by Ferrandini, formerly attributed to Handel, together with two of Vivaldi’s Sonatas al Santo Sepolcro Find out more

A musical offering
Friday 13 February, 7.30 pm
Cambridge Early Music: Cambridge
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) and festive music by Buxtehude and Telemann Find out more
December 2014

A Christmas present
Friday 12 December, 7.30 pm
Burgh House, New End Square, Hampstead, London NW3 1LT
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) and festive music by Buxtehude and Telemann Find out more

A Christmas present
Wednesday 10 December, 7.30 pm
Chester Music Society, Chester
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) and festive music by Buxtehude and Telemann Find out more
November 2014

Sleepers awake!
Saturday 8 November, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
The Advent cantata ‘Wachet auf’ in the setting by J.S. Bach (BWV 140) and two versions by Dieterich Buxtehude, and chamber music by Buxtehude and Erlebach Find out more

Sleepers awake!
Thursday 6 November, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
The Advent cantata ‘Wachet auf’ in the setting by J.S. Bach (BWV 140) and two versions by Dieterich Buxtehude, and chamber music by Buxtehude and Erlebach Find out more
October 2014

A grand tour of Europe
Friday 10 October, 7.30 pm
Egremont, Cumbria
Music by French, English, German, and Italian composers that one might have heard on an eighteenth-century ‘grand tour’ Find out more

Bach’s library
Sunday 5 October, 3.00 pm
St Jean de Braye eglise paroissiale, France
A selection of pieces that J.S. Bach had in his library and which provide a context for his celebrated Orchestral Suite in B minor
Find out more
July 2014

From Venice to Hamburg
Saturday 12 July, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
How the Italian improvisatory ‘stylus fantasticus’ travelled from Italy to Germany, with music by Bertali, Weckmann, Valentini, Schmelzer, Froberger, and others Find out more

From Venice to Hamburg
Thursday 10 July, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
How the Italian improvisatory ‘stylus fantasticus’ travelled from Italy to Germany, with music by Bertali, Weckmann, Valentini, Schmelzer, Froberger, and others Find out more
June 2014

Pour le coucher du roy
Friday 20 June, 10.00 pm
Stour Music, All Saints’ Boughton Aluph, Kent TN25 4EU
Music for the private chambers of Louis XIV by composers who were ‘Musiciens de la Chambre du Roy’ (Marais, de Visée, Rebel, Jacquet de La Guerre). Find out more
April 2014

Tales of enchantment
Saturday 12 April, 6.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
At our invitation, Maya Homburger and Barry Guy play and improvise on compositions by Biber, Kurtag, and by Barry Guy himself. Find out more
March 2014

Stabat Mater
Wednesday 5 March, 7.00 pm
London Handel Festival: St George’s Hanover Square, London W1S 1FX Find out more
February 2014

Stabat Mater
Friday 28 February, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN Find out more
November 2013

Pour le souper du roi
Saturday 9 November, 7.45 pm
Georgian Concert Society, St Cecilia’s Hall, Cowgate, Edinburgh EH1 1NQ
Music presented to King Louis XIV by his favourite composers Find out more

Pour le souper du roi
Thursday 7 November, 7.30 pm
Handel House Museum, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB
Music presented to King Louis XIV by his favourite composers Find out more
October 2013

Bach and his rivals [2]
Saturday 5 October, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Cantatas composed for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, 30 January 1724, by Telemann, Graupner, and J.S. Bach, a year after they had composed their cantatas for the audition of the Kantor’s job at St Thomas’s Leipzig. Find out more

Bach and his rivals [2]
Thursday 3 October, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Cantatas composed for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, 30 January 1724, by Telemann, Graupner, and J.S. Bach, a year after they had composed their cantatas for the audition of the Kantor’s job at St Thomas’s Leipzig Find out more
September 2013

Bach’s library
Wednesday 11 September, 8.00 pm
Timisoara, Romania
A selection of pieces that J.S. Bach had in his library and which provide a context for his celebrated Orchestral Suite in B minor Find out more
July 2013

An Italian in Paris
Saturday 20 July, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
A rich banquet of private music, with an Italian flavour, for Louis XIV
Find out more

An Italian in Paris
Thursday 18 July, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
A rich banquet of private music, with an Italian flavour, for Louis XIV Find out more
April 2013
Pachelbel and Bach: cantatas and canons
Saturday 13 April, 7.45 pm
Paaskerk Baarn, Oude Utrechtseweg 4a, Baarn, The Netherlands
Music by Johann Pachelbel and J.S. Bach
Find out moreMarch 2013

Stabat Mater
Saturday 9 March, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
In praise of the Virgin Mary: Pergolesi’s setting of the Stabat Mater text, and Mystery Sonatas by Biber Find out more

Stabat Mater
Thursday 7 March, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
In praise of the Virgin Mary: Pergolesi’s setting of the Stabat Mater text, and Mystery Sonatas by Biber Find out more
September 2012

Bach and his rivals
Saturday 29 September, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Audition cantatas for the post of Cantor at St Thomas’s church Leipzig, by Telemann, Graupner, and Johann Sebastian Bach Find out more

Bach and his rivals
Thursday 27 September, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
Audition cantatas for the post of Cantor at St Thomas’s church Leipzig, by Telemann, Graupner, and Johann Sebastian Bach Find out more
June 2012

Bach’s library
Saturday 30 June, 3.30 pm
Music in Lyddington: St Andrew’s, Lyddington
A selection of pieces that Johann Sebastian Bach had in his library and which provide a context for his celebrated Orchestral Suite in B minor Find out more

Bach’s library
Friday 29 June, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
A selection of pieces that Johann Sebastian Bach had in his library and which provide a context for his celebrated Orchestral Suite in B minor Find out more

Bach’s library
Thursday 28 June, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
A selection of pieces that Johann Sebastian Bach had in his library and which provide a context for his celebrated Orchestral Suite in B minor Find out more

Bach’s library
Wednesday 27 June, 7.30 pm
Cambridge Early Music: St John’s College Chapel, Cambridge
A selection of pieces that Johann Sebastian Bach had in his library and which provide a context for his celebrated Orchestral Suite in B minor Find out more
April 2012

Pachelbel, Purcell, Bach: memorial concert for Gustav Leonhardt
Thursday 19 April, 7.30 pm
St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL
A programme of music that was close to Gustav Leonhardt’s heart, with short spoken contributions from those who knew and worked with him, including Mark Deller and Nicholas Anderson Find out more
March 2012

Stabat Mater: music for Easter
Saturday 3 March, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
In praise of the Virgin Mary: Alessandro Scarlatti’s setting of the Stabat Mater, punctuated by two of Biber’s Mystery Sonatas Find out more

Stabat Mater: music for Easter
Friday 2 March, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
In praise of the Virgin Mary: Alessandro Scarlatti’s setting of the Stabat Mater, punctuated by two of Biber’s Mystery Sonatas Find out more
February 2012

Pour le souper du roi
Sunday 12 February, 5.30 pm
The Forge, 3–7 Delancey Street, London NW1 7NL Find out more
November 2011
Pachelbel and Bach: canons and cantatas [2]
Saturday 19 November, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
A second selection of music by Johann Sebastian Bach and his predecessor Johann Pachelbel (following the concerts in November 2010) Find out more
Pachelbel and Bach: canons and cantatas [2]
Thursday 17 November, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
A second selection of music by Johann Sebastian Bach and his predecessor Johann Pachelbel (following the concerts in November 2010) Find out more
September 2011
Salve Regina
Saturday 3 September, 6.00 pm
Chapel of Reconciliation, Walsingham, Norfolk Find out more
July 2011
La Grande France
Saturday 2 July, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
The French style in music at court and in the theatres in Restoration London Find out more
La Grande France
Friday 1 July, 7.30 pm
The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN
The French style in music at court and in the theatres in Restoration London Find out more
June 2011
La Grande France
Thursday 30 June, 7.30 pm
The Cobbe Collection, Hatchlands Park, East Clandon, GU4 7RT
The French style in music at court and in the theatres in Restoration London Find out more
March 2011
Salve Regina
Saturday 5 March, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
February 2011
Italy versus France
Wednesday 23 February, 7.30 pm
Brighton College, Eastern Road, Brighton BN2 0AL
Lully, Corelli, Muffat, and the styles reunited Find out more
Canons and cantatas: Pachelbel and Bach
Tuesday 22 February, 7.30 pm
Leamington Music, St Mary’s Church, Warwick Find out more
Italy versus France
Saturday 19 February, 7.45 pm
Georgian Concert Society, St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh
Lully, Corelli, Muffat, and the styles reunited Find out more
November 2010
Canons and cantatas: Pachelbel and Bach
Saturday 6 November, 8.15 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
Canons and cantatas: Pachelbel and Bach
Thursday 4 November, 7.30 pm
The King of Hearts: United Reformed Church, Princes Street, Norwich NR3 1AZ Find out more
July 2010
Italy versus France
Saturday 17 July, 8.10 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU
Lully, Corelli, Muffat, and the styles reunited Find out more
Italy versus France
Friday 16 July, 7.30 pm
The King of Hearts: The Octagon Chapel, Norwich
Lully, Corelli, Muffat, and the styles reunited Find out more
Italy versus France
Thursday 15 July, 7.30 pm
York Early Music Festival: St Michael le Belfrey Church, High Petergate, York
Lully, Corelli, Muffat, and the styles reunited Find out more
Italy versus France
Wednesday 14 July, 7.30 pm
Hatchlands Park, Guildford
Lully, Corelli, Muffat, and the styles reunited Find out more
April 2010
The Seven Last Words
Saturday 10 April, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
November 2009
Nun komm! Music for Advent and beyond
Saturday 28 November, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
Nun komm! Music for Advent and beyond
Friday 27 November, 7.30 pm
The King of Hearts at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich Find out more
September 2009
Rendezvous in Vienna
Saturday 19 September, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
Rendezvous in Vienna
Wednesday 16 September, 7.30 pm
East Cork Early Music Festival: CIT, Cork School of Music Find out more
May 2009
Bach arranging and arranged
Saturday 23 May, 7.30 pm
Beverley Early Music Festival: Beverley Minster, Beverley, East Yorkshire Find out more
January 2009
In with the new
Saturday 31 January, 7.30 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
November 2008
Every one a chaconne
Monday 24 November, 8.00 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
June 2008
Haydn and Boccherini: folk tunes
Monday 30 June, 8.00 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 Find out more
Haydn and Boccherini: folk tunes
Sunday 22 June, 3.00 pm
Stour Music, All Saints’, Boughton Aluph Find out more
May 2008
Bach arranging and arranged
Sunday 18 May, 3.00 pm
Holy Trinity Church, Beauchamp Avenue, Leamington Find out more
Warwick Bach Weekend: Bach / Rosenmüller
Saturday 17 May, 7.30 pm
St Mary’s Church Warwick Find out more
Warwick Bach Weekend: Solo Bach
Saturday 17 May, 12.00 pm
Unitarian Chapel, High Street, Warwick Find out more
March 2008
The Seven Last Words
Sunday 30 March, 4.00 pm
Castalia Hall, Ballytobin, Callan, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland Find out more
The Seven Last Words
Friday 28 March, 8.00 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
November 2007
Bach in autumn
Friday 23 November, 8.00 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
September 2007
Bach arranging and arranged
Thursday 20 September, 8.00 pm
St John’s Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London NW3 1NU Find out more
September 2006
Mozart with a dash of Bach
Wednesday 27 September, 8.00 pm
St George’s, Hanover Square, London W1 Find out more
December 2005
Music for Advent and Christmas
Saturday 10 December, 7.30 pm
Tudeley Festival: All Saint’s Church, Tudeley Find out more
Music for Advent and Christmas
Friday 9 December, 7.30 pm
National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York Find out more
September 2005
June 2005
December 2004
Music for Advent and Christmas
Saturday 11 December, 7.30 pm
St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh Find out more
Music for Advent and Christmas
Friday 10 December, 7.30 pm
St George’s Hanover Square, London Find out more
September 2004
March 2004
December 2003
Music for Advent and Christmas
Wednesday 3 December, 7.30 pm
Musicon 2003/2004: Elvet Methodist Church, Durham Find out more
August 2003
June 2003
November 2002
December 2000
J.S. Bach: instrumental works
Saturday 16 December, 7.30 pm
The Georgian Concert Society: St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh Find out more
July 2000
J.S. Bach: cantatas for alto
Saturday 29 July, 7.30 pm
Tudeley Festival: St Nicholas’s Church, Sevenoaks Find out more
J.S. Bach: the Musical Offering
Friday 28 July, 7.30 pm
Cambridge Summer Music Festival: The Catholic Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge Find out more
J.S. Bach: secular cantatas
Saturday 15 July, 7.30 pm
Bridge House Theatre, Warwick School, Warwick Find out more
June 2000
J.S. Bach: cantatas for alto
Saturday 17 June, 7.30 pm
Stour Music: Boughton Aluph Church Find out more
May 2000
J.S. Bach: cantatas for alto
Thursday 18 May, 7.30 pm
Tilford Bach Society: All Saints’ Church, Tilford Find out more
February 2000
J.S. Bach: cantatas and B minor suite for flute
Friday 18 February, 7.30 pm
Tudeley Festival: St Nicholas’s Church, Sevenoaks Find out more
J.S. Bach: cantatas and B minor suite for flute
Wednesday 16 February, 7.30 pm
The Barber Institute, Birmingham Find out more
November 1999
J.S. Bach: Advent cantatas
Sunday 28 November, 5.00 pm
St John’s Wood Parish Church, London NW8 Find out more
July 1999
J.S. Bach: St John Passion
Saturday 3 July, 7.45 pm
Berliner Bachtage: Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal, Berlin Find out more
May 1999
Dido and Aeneas
Saturday 29 May, 7.30 pm
The King of Hearts: St George’s Church, Norwich Find out more
J.S. Bach: instrumental works
Thursday 27 May, 7.30 pm
The King of Hearts: St George’s Church, Norwich Find out more
December 1998
Messiah
Saturday 12 December, 7.30 pm
Chapel of St Augustine, Tonbridge School, Tonbridge Find out more
November 1998
J.S. Bach: cantatas for alto
Sunday 8 November, 5.00 pm
St John’s Wood Parish Church, London NW8 Find out more
July 1998
J.S. Bach: cantatas for soprano
Friday 31 July, 7.30 pm
Queen’s College Chapel, Cambridge Find out more
May 1998
J.S. Bach: cantatas for soprano and bass
Sunday 10 May, 7.30 pm
St John’s Wood Parish Church, London NW8 Find out more
J.S. Bach: cantatas for soprano and bass
Saturday 9 May, 7.30 pm
Oxford University Church, Oxford Find out more
March 1998
J.S. Bach: St John Passion
Sunday 1 March, 5.00 pm
St John’s Wood Parish Church, London NW8 Find out more
February 1998
J.S. Bach: St John Passion
Saturday 28 February, 7.30 pm
Oxford University Church, Oxford Find out more
November 1997
J.S. Bach: cantatas, orchestral suite, Brandenburg concerto
Tuesday 25 November, 7.30 pm
Dutch Embassy, London Find out more
J.S. Bach: cantatas, orchestral suite, Brandenburg concerto
Sunday 23 November, 5.00 pm
St John’s Wood Parish Church, London NW8 Find out more
J.S. Bach: cantatas, orchestral suite, Brandenburg concerto
Saturday 22 November, 7.30 pm
Oxford University Church, Oxford Find out more
May 1997
J.S. Bach: cantatas and concertos
Sunday 25 May, 5.00 pm
St John’s Wood Parish Church, London NW8 Find out more
J.S. Bach: cantatas and concertos
Friday 23 May, 7.30 pm
Oxford University Church, Oxford Find out more