Concordia Seminary Newsroom
Bach at the Sem Begins New Season on October 13
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is pleased to announce the 16th season of Bach at the Sem, featuring presentations of J.S. Bach’s music by The American Kantorei, under the direction of Robert Bergt. The Seminary’s Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus is the venue for each sacred concert. With the exception of the season’s first date, all Bach at the Sem sacred concerts are offered on Sunday afternoons. Thanks to the generous underwriting of the series, there is no admission charge and no tickets are issued. A free-will offering is received in support of the series.
The 2007-2008 Bach at the Sem schedule is comprised of the following:
| Saturday, Oct. 13 – 3:30 p.m. – Note the exception to the usual day and time. This sacred concert is the final event in “German Days at the Sem-,” an event offered by the Seminary’s Institute on Lay Vocation. Bach’s Cantata, “Watch! Pray! Pray! Watch!” is central in announcing the year’s activity and repetoire. Buxtehude’s solo cantata, “Rejoice in the Lord!” is an intense response to the prayer uttered in Bach’s cantata. Bach’s Motet 1, “Sing to the Lord a New Song” expresses lifelong commitment to watching, praying, and praising the Lord. One does not need to be registered for “German Days at the Sem” in order to attend this sacred concert. |
| Sunday, November 18, 3:00 p.m.- Barbara Raedeke, guest organ artist and professor of organ at Washington University, reflects the considerable research she has completed concerning Nikolaus Bruns, the great North German School organist. She will offer works by Bach, Buxtehude and Bruns. The American Kantorei joins her for Deitrich Buxtehude’s cantata, “Everything You Do in Life and Works” and Bach’s cantata overture to BWV 18, “Just as the Rain and Snow Fall from Heaven.” |
| Sunday, December 16, 3:00 p.m. – A program of Advent and Christmas music as it was performed at Marienkirche in Lübeck. Featured will be cantatas by Buxtehude, based on texts of Scripture. In addition, the cantata “Beloved Christians, Rejoice Greatly!” is offered. |
| Sunday, January 6, 3:00 p.m. – Bach at the Sem organist Dennis Bergen reaches out to additional Baroque composers who enhanced the golden age of church music, playing Bach, Buxtehude, Froberger and more. American Kantorei soloists Katharine Lawton Brown, Jeral Becker and David Berger with six members of the soprano section collaborate for Bach’s Cantata BWV 166. Part II of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is presented. |
| Sunday, February 3, 3:00 p.m. – The Magnificat serves as the centerpiece for this afternoon, in addition to music by Handel, Telemann and Schieferdecker, as presented by The American Kantorei. |
| Sunday, March 16, 3:00 p.m. – Buxtehude’s Passion Music – Membra Jesu nostri, and two penitential psalms set to music by Buxtehude are presented, as is appropriate on this “Passion Sunday.” |
The American Kantorei is a choral and orchestral ensemble dedicated to the performance of church music from the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Neoclassical periods. The works of J.S. Bach form the core of its repertoire. Conductor and music director Robert Bergt is known as an international Bach scholar, especially in understanding the centrality of the German chorale to all of Bach’s musical compositions for worship. Bach at the Sem is funded largely through the generosity of individual supporters.
For more information concerning Bach at the Sem or to be added to the Bach at the Sem mailing list, contact Seminary Relations, Concordia Seminary, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105; (314) 505-7365; SemRelations@csl.edu; or visit the Bach at the Sem Web site at www.csl.edu/CampusLife_Music_BachattheSem.aspx.