Bach Festivals & Cantata Series
Washington Bach Consort: Noontime Cantata Series

Name:

Washington Bach Consort: Noontime Cantata Series

Location:

Washington, DC, USA

Venues:

Church of the Epiphany - 1317 G Street, NW, Washington, DC

Years:

1^st Cycle: 1990-2005
2^nd Cycle, on period instruments: since 2006

Months:

1^st Tuesday of the month (October-December and March-May)

Artistic Director:

J. Reilly Lewis

Ensembles:

Washington Bach Consort

Website:

Washington Bach Consort

History & Mission:

Founded in 1977 by J. Reilly Lewis, the Washington Bach Consort is a professional chorus and orchestra noted for its performance of 18^th-Century music on period instruments. Its mission is to perform to the highest artistic standards the music of J.S. Bach and his Baroque contemporaries.

As one of the nation's critically acclaimed and widely recognized performing arts institutions, it has appeared at numerous festivals and has made three European tours. Recordings include the J.S. Bach's complete motets, both J.S. and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Magnificats, the first American recording of the F Major and G minor masses, and three solo soprano cantatas featuring opera superstar Elizabeth Futral.

The Consort recently completed Bach's entire 215-cantata cycle. In association with this monumental achievement, the Library of Congress has welcomed the Washington Bach Consort performance recording and concert program archives into its permanent collection.

The free Noontime Cantata Concert Series is a popular series of fifty-minute concerts presented on the first Tuesday of the month (October-December and March-May) at the Church of the Epiphany. Each concert features an organ work followed by one of J.S. Bach's cantatas. Almost all of the cantatas feature both chorus and orchestra. In 2006, after sixteen seasons, the Washington Bach Consort completed the entire cycle of 215 cantatas. In 2007, the Concert began the cycle anew on period instruments.

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