{"id":149218,"date":"2026-05-07T21:51:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T01:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=149218"},"modified":"2026-05-07T21:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T01:51:27","slug":"the-bach-choir-of-bethlehem-opens-its-118th-bethlehem-bach-festival-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=149218","title":{"rendered":"THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM OPENS ITS 118TH BETHLEHEM BACH FESTIVAL TODAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0The Bach Choir of Bethlehem<\/a>, America’s oldest Bach choir, today opens the doors on its celebrated\u00a0118th Bethlehem Bach Festival<\/a>, a four-day event running through Sunday, May 10, 2026. Anchored in the heart of historic Bethlehem and set across multiple iconic venues, the festival brings together world-class soloists, distinguished scholars, beloved traditions, and exciting new programming marking the 250th anniversary of our nation\u2019s founding by honoring the Moravian musical heritage that helped shape the Bach Choir.<\/p>\n

Drawing on rare performances of music from the Moravian archives, scholarly lectures, and collaborations with Moravian partners in the Lehigh Valley and abroad, the 118th Festival invites audiences to reflect on where this tradition came from, and why it endures.<\/p>\n

Festival Highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday, May 7<\/strong><\/p>\n

At 7 pm, the festival’s\u00a0Outside the Bachs<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0series kicks off at the Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks with\u00a0Time for Three<\/strong>, the GRAMMY Award-winning Philadelphia-based trio of violinists Charles Yang and Nick Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer. Their genre-bending fusion of classical, Americana, rock, and jazz brings an infectious energy to Bach’s living legacy.<\/p>\n

Friday, May 8<\/strong><\/p>\n

Friday features a full day of exploration. At 11 am, Choir Archivist Cory Dieterly presents\u00a0Films from the Archives<\/strong>\u00a0at Zoellner Arts Center, a free, curated screening of rare historical footage. At 2 pm, Dr. Sarah Eyerly, Professor of Musicology and Associate Dean at Florida State University’s College of Music, delivers the\u00a0Barnette Distinguished Scholar Lecture<\/strong>, drawing on her acclaimed book\u00a0Moravian Soundscapes<\/em>\u00a0to explore how Bach’s music resonated within colonial Moravian communities. Both lectures are free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

The evening features\u00a0Bach at 8<\/strong>\u00a0at Packer Memorial Church (8 pm), pairing Mozart’s monumental Great Mass in C Minor with works from the early American Moravian repertoire, including J.F. Peter’s Freudenpsalm, written in 1783 to mark the end of the Revolutionary War, \u00a0performed alongside members of the Moravian choir Unitas Chorale.<\/p>\n

Saturday, May 9<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday centers on the festival’s most beloved tradition: the\u00a0Mass in B Minor<\/em><\/strong>. Performed in two parts (2:30 pm and 4:30 pm) at Packer Memorial Church, Bach’s monumental masterwork has been offered by the Bach Choir for over a century and remains the festival’s spiritual and artistic centerpiece. A livestream is also available to audiences worldwide throughout May 2026.<\/p>\n

The morning opens with the\u00a0Ifor Jones Memorial Chamber Music Concert<\/strong>\u00a0at Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center (10:30 am), featuring Bach’s Musical Offering alongside the period brass and wind players of Artists-in-Residence Synnet and the Bach Festival Orchestra. The Bel Canto Youth Chorus performs at 11:45 am, followed by a Festival Luncheon. The evening closes with\u00a0Zimmermann’s Coffee House<\/strong>\u00a0at Peter Hall, Moravian University (7 pm), an intimate Baroque chamber music experience in cafe-style surroundings.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 10<\/strong><\/p>\n

At 11 am, viol virtuoso Loren Ludwig presents\u00a0Chamber Music in the Saal<\/strong>\u00a0at the Moravian Museum. The festival’s finale,\u00a0The Testament to Freedom<\/strong>\u00a0(2:30 pm, Levitt Pavilion at SteelStacks), is a landmark collaboration between the Bach Choir and the Allentown Band, under conductor Christopher Jackson and Ron Demkee respectively, featuring Randall Thompson’s stirring work inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s writings. This outdoor concert is free and open to all.<\/p>\n

Featured Artists<\/strong><\/p>\n

Artists-in-Residence Synnet, one of North America’s premier early brass ensembles, joins the festival for multiple performances. Led by Michael Holmes and based in Washington, D.C., Synnet has been captivating audiences with historically informed cornett and sackbut performances since 1997. The ensemble has been praised by the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0for their virtuosity and serious attention to detail.<\/p>\n

Vocal soloists for the festival include sopranos Sherezade Panthaki and Katelyn Grace Jackson, mezzo-soprano Meg Bragle, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Edmund Milly.<\/p>\n

Tickets & Information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets for individual events are available at\u00a0bach.org<\/a>. Several events, including lectures, Moravian Lovefeasts, and the closing Testament to Freedom concert, are free and open to the public. A livestream pass for the\u00a0Mass in B Minor<\/em>\u00a0is available for audiences worldwide.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ABOUT THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s\u00a0Mass in B Minor<\/em>\u00a0in 1900 and\u00a0Christmas Oratorio<\/em>\u00a0in 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\u2019s latest recording,\u00a0Mendelssohn\/Bach Matth\u00e4us-Passion (2024)\u00a0<\/em>was released by Analekta, Canada\u2019s largest indie classic label. The Bach Choir\u2019s 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\u00a0BACH.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nGlenn Koehler<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa\u00a0\u2013\u00a0The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, America’s oldest Bach choir, today opens the doors on its celebrated\u00a0118th Bethlehem Bach Festival, a four-day event running through Sunday, May 10, 2026. Anchored … Continue reading THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEM OPENS ITS 118TH BETHLEHEM BACH FESTIVAL TODAY<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bach-118.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149220,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149218\/revisions\/149220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}