BETHLEHEM, Pa. –The Bach Choir of Bethlehem is proud to announce its 2026-2027 season, “The Road to Bach Runs Through Bethlehem,” a year shaped by journeys, pilgrimage, and return. Led by Artistic Director and Conductor Christopher Jackson, the season places Bach in conversation with music of other eras and influences, building towards two capstone events: the 119th Bethlehem Bach Festival, taking place May 13-16, 2027, and the Choir’s return to Bachfest Leipzig in June 2027.
“In my fifth season as Artistic Director and Conductor I wanted to highlight one of my deepest passions: placing the vocal masterworks of J.S. Bach alongside, and even in direct conversation with, the best music of our time,” said Christopher Jackson, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choir. “We have the honor of performing the Saint Matthew Passion in Leipzig, the town where the work first premiered, to celebrate its 300th anniversary. It will be a truly remarkable season.”
Season Lineup
Our core concert season begins December 12th and 13th with A Christmas Carol, bringing together two works separated by centuries but joined by the holiday themes of mercy and grace. The program opens with “Jauchzet, frohlocket!,” the first cantata of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248. It continues with GRAMMY-nominated composer and Lehigh Valley resident Benedict Sheehan’s choral setting of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, in a version written for the Bach Choir and narrated by Jason King Jones of the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Performances take place at 4 p.m. Saturday, December 12th, at Egner Memorial Chapel on the campus of Muhlenberg College and at 4 p.m. Sunday, December 13th, at the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem.
The Greg Funfgeld Family Concert, Harmony of the Spheres, is presented in collaboration with Da Vinci Science Center on Saturday, February 20, 2027, with two performances at 5:30 and 7 p.m. Designed for young children, families, and curious listeners of all ages, the program explores the intersection of music, science and space. Eric Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine and Goodnight Moon carry the audience from dreams of flight to the quiet mystery of the night sky. Performances take place at Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown. Tickets include admission to the science center.
On Sunday, March 21, 2027, at 4 p.m. at Grace Church in Bethlehem, the Bach Choir presents our Spring Concert, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles. Written for the acclaimed vocal ensemble Tenebrae, the work follows the Camino de Santiago across four movements, moving through departure, endurance, struggle and arrival. The Bach Choir will perform Talbot’s demanding score in a concertato setting, with 17 solo voices in dialogue before the full Choir. As the singers prepare for their own journey to Leipzig, Path of Miracles offers a modern companion to Bach’s great choral works and a meditation on what is revealed along the way.
119th Bethlehem Bach Festival
The 119th Bethlehem Bach Festival welcomes audiences to SouthSide and Historic Downtown Bethlehem from Thursday through Sunday, May 13–16, 2027. The four-day Festival follows Bach’s influence across generations, from intimate chamber music and conversations with scholars to Mendelssohn’s 1841 version of the St. Matthew Passion and the Bach Choir’s defining performance of the Mass in B Minor.
World-renowned guitarist Eliot Fisk returns as Festival Artist-in-Residence. At Outside the Bachs on Thursday, May 13, at the Diamond Theater in Zoellner Arts Center, Fisk will pair Bach’s Baroque dances with dance-inspired works by Paraguayan composer Agustín Barrios and music by Niccolò Paganini. The program closes with “Phrygian Pick,” the final movement of Robert Beaser’s Guitar Concerto, written for Fisk and recast by the guitarist in a solo version.
The festival continues on Friday with Films from the Archives and the Barnette Distinguished Scholar Lecture with Dr. Rebecca Cypess. Cypess’s research on Sara Levy, Mendelssohn’s great-aunt and a central figure in Berlin’s musical culture, provides context for the Bach revival and the evening’s St. Matthew Passion performance at Bach at 7. A dinner discussion with Dr. Larry Lipkis will compare Bach’s 1727 St. Matthew Passion with Mendelssohn’s 1841 revision before the 7 p.m. performance in Packer Memorial Church. The Bach Choir gave the world-premiere performance and recording of the new scholarly edition of Mendelssohn’s version in 2023; the 2027 Festival performance prepares the Choir to carry the work to Leipzig weeks later.
On Saturday, May 15, clarinetist Dominic Giardino and harpsichordist Charlotte Mattax Moersch explore Mendelssohn’s debt to Bach in the Ifor Jones Memorial Chamber Music Concert. Mendelssohn’s Konzertstück No. 1, Op. 113, and 7 Charakterstücke, Op. 7, will be heard alongside selected works by Bach, ending with the Concerto for Harpsichord in D Minor, BWV 1052. The afternoon continues with the Mass in B Minor in two parts at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. in Packer Memorial Church. First performed in full in America by the Choir in 1900, the Mass remains the beloved center of the Festival. Zimmermann’s Coffee House follows at Foy Hall, Moravian University, with Baroque chamber music performed by young musicians selected by audition.
The Festival concludes Sunday, May 16, in the historic Saal of the Moravian Museum. Harpsichordist and early music specialist Marc Bellassai presents Fond Farewells, a program exploring memory and parting through works including Contrapunctus VI in Stile Francese from The Art of the Fugue and Bach’s Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo Fratello dilettissimo.
A Return to Bachfest Leipzig
In June 2027, the Bach Choir returns to Germany to perform at Bachfest Leipzig, bringing Bethlehem’s Bach tradition to the city where Johann Sebastian Bach lived, worked and created many of his greatest works. The Choir will serve as the sole North American ambassador in a multinational performance commemorating the 300th anniversary of the St. Matthew Passion. For the Choir’s volunteer singers, the tour offers a rare opportunity to perform Bach in the places that shaped his music while representing a Bethlehem tradition sustained across generations.
Bel Canto and Community Events
The free Bach at Noon series continues at 12:10 p.m. at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem on September 8, October 13 and November 10, 2026, and January 12, February 9, March 9 and April 13, 2027. The September concert marks the 150th Bach at Noon presented in Bethlehem. Summer concerts return to St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Allentown on June 1, July 13 and August 10, 2027. Programs feature the Bach Choir, Bach Festival Orchestra and guest artists and can also be heard through livestreams on the Choir’s YouTube channel, live broadcasts on WWFM and replays on WDIY.
The 13th Biennial Bach Vocal Competition for American Singers takes place Saturday, October 24, 2026, in collaboration with the American Bach Society. Finalists will perform before judges Christopher Jackson, Meg Bragle, Jessica Beebe and Matthew Dirst and a live audience in Bethlehem. The first-prize winner will receive a $3,000 career development grant and an opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Bach Choir in a future season.
The Bel Canto Youth Chorus presents For This Joy at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday, November 22, at Wesley United Methodist Church in Bethlehem. Featuring all four Bel Canto ensembles, the program explores gratitude, hope and the many forms of joy, including a contemporary setting of Lobe den Herren, the inspiration for Bach’s cantata BWV 137. The annual Scholarship Recital follows at 4 p.m. Sunday, January 24, at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, with proceeds supporting access to choral education. Bel Canto concludes its season with A Garden Path at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 11, at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, joined by collaborative partners from the Wilson Area School District.
ABOUT THE BEL CANTO YOUTH CHORUS
The Bel Canto Youth Chorus of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem provides opportunities for excellence in choral performance. Currently representing school districts from across the Lehigh Valley and neighboring counties, Bel Canto works to enhance, strengthen, and collaborate with the music education programs in the Lehigh Valley community. Collaboration between Bel Canto and the Bach Choir provides additional performance opportunities for students. The Bel Canto Youth Chorus was founded in 1993 in the Perkiomen Valley by Dr. Joy Hirokawa, who led the choir for 30 years before passing the baton to Kelly Rocchi in 2023. Bel Canto’s evolving structure continues to serve the unique pedagogical needs of its singers, and four ensembles are now offered for singers in grades K-12+: Bach Buddies, Da Capo Treble Choir, Youth Chorale, and Concert Choir. Musicianship, leadership, and community are cornerstones of the ensembles. Through the performance of vigorous and diverse choral repertoire, including the works of J.S. Bach, a lifelong passion for the choral arts is inspired and cultivated. For more information, visit BACH.org/belcanto.
ABOUT THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM
Founded in 1898 and comprised of 115 dedicated volunteer singers, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem is the oldest American Bach Choir, performing the first complete U.S. renditions of Bach’s Mass in B Minor in 1900 and Christmas Oratorio in 1901. Under Artistic Director and Conductor Dr. Christopher Jackson, the choir attracts thousands each year to Bethlehem, PA for its annual Bethlehem Bach Festival. Programming includes over 40 concerts and educational events per year, reaching an audience of more than 22,000 through outreach programs like Bach to School, Bach at Noon, interdisciplinary family concerts, and more. The choir’s latest recording, Mendelssohn/Bach Matthäus-Passion (2024) was released by Analekta, Canada’s largest indie classic label. The Bach Choir’s Bel Canto Youth Chorus, an educational program under the direction of Director Kelly Rocchi, is training the next generation of choral singers and cultivating a life-long passion for the choral arts. For more information, visit BACH.org.
Tickets and Information
Tickets and complete event information are available at BACH.org. General public sales for concerts begin September 14, 2026. Tickets for Bach at 7 and Mass in B Minor go on sale to the general public in January 2027. Orders may be placed online, by phone at 610-866-4382, or by mail using the season order form.
Information provided to TVL by:
Glenn Koehler
