Musica Angelica Bach Festival Returns with St. Matthew Passion

The Cathedral will host Musica Angelica as they bring the Bach Festival back to Los Angeles for a third year. Since the successful relaunch of the annual Bach Festival in Los Angeles in 2023, Musica Angelica will offer a weekend of Johann Sebastian Bach and other Baroque music in partnership with The Cathedral’s music and arts department the weekend of April 11-13, 2025. Musica Angelica, L.A.’s premiere period instrument ensemble under the leadership of Martin Haselböck, has been a champion of J.S. Bach’s music during their 30-year tenure. With continued sponsorship from The Colburn Foundation, of St. Matthew Passion the 2025 Bach Festival weekend will be a time to delve more deeply into Bach’s compositions, the motivations that surround them, and the ethos that has developed since their creation.

As Haselböck says of late works like the St. Matthew Passion, “For a deeper understanding of Bach’s music, we have to understand the thoughts and the self-image of a baroque composer. Bach, following the traditions of medieval artists, considered himself to be like a mirror reflecting in his music all the proportions, dimensions and special features of a God-created world: the more artistic the musical forms appear, the more elaborate their polyphonic structures can be constructed, therefore the better the composer could reflect God’s infinite creation.”

Friday April 11, 2025 – BACH TO THE FUTURE with CHRISTOPH BULL

7:00 PM Pre-Concert Reception with Gourmet Food Trucks and No Host Bar

8:30 PM Christoph Bull plays Bach Organ Favorites accompanied by a laser light show

The Cathedral (540 S. Commonwealth, Los Angeles, CA 90020)

Saturday, April 12, 2025 – ST. MATTHEW PASSION with Musica Angelica

6:00 PM St. Matthew Passion with Musica Angelica Orchestra

Conducted by Martin Haselböck

First Congregational Church of Long Beach (241 Cedar Ave., Long Beach, CA 90802)

Pre-concert Reception starts at 4:30 pm in the courtyard of FCCLB.

Sunday, April 13, 2025 – BACH AND THE MEXICAN BAROQUE WITH THE CATHEDRAL

10:30 AM Baroque Masterworks with Christoph Bull on The Great Organs

11:00 AM FCCLA morning service “Bach and the Mexican Baroque”

Featuring Bach’s “Wachet Auf,”

Ignacio de Jerusalem’s “Gloria,”

Manuel de Sumaya’s “Celebren publiquen,” and

“Para dar luz immortal” from the Santa Anna mission

Cathedral Choir, Laude, and musicians from Musica Angelica directed by David Harris,

Ianthe Marini and Fahad Siadat, soloists from Laude

3:00 PM St. Matthew Passion with Musica Angelica

Conducted by Martin Haselböck

The Cathedral

Post-concert reception starts immediately after the concert in the Shatto Chapel, FCCLA.

“The weekend promises to be enlightening, entertaining and emotional providing the full range of experiences from one of our greatest composers,” said Musica Angelica’s Executive Director Matthew Faulkner.

Tickets for the Friday night, Saturday and Sunday afternoon concerts are available through Musica Angelica, and the Sunday morning events presented by the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles are free to the public. Visit https://www.musicaangelica.org/ for tickets and more information.

ABOUT MUSICA ANGELICA

Now in its 33rd season, Musica Angelica is firmly established as Southern California’s preeminent historical performance ensemble, being described as “Southern California’s most important early music ensemble” the LA Times. Led by Music Director and world-renowned organist, Martin Haselböck, the ensemble has toured internationally to widespread acclaim. Musica Angelica musicians play on authentic instruments of the period, or carefully crafted replicas. The ensemble performs its own series of concerts in Long Beach and Los Angeles and is in demand as a collaborative ensemble performing alongside LA Opera, the LA Master Chorale, Long Beach Camerata Singers Pacific Chorale and Long Beach Opera. Since 1992 Musica Angelica has produced several outstanding CDs with Concertos by Vivaldi and Telemann, Bach Cantatas and Operas by Handel. Major concert tours brought the orchestra to South America and major European Music Festivals. They have performed joint ventures with the Wiener Akademie including tours of St. Matthew Passion in Mexico, Italy, Germany and Hungary and touring two music theater pieces “The infernal Comedy“ and “The Giacomo Variations“ with actor John Malkovich.

Instagram: @musicaangelica

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMusicaAngelica/

ABOUT THE MUSICA ANGELICA BACH FEST

Musica Angelica and FCCLA are partnering to bring a Bach Fest back to Los Angeles, reviving this important offering in the Cultural Capital of the World. In the 1930s, the members of First Congregational began the annual Los Angeles Bach Festival that lasted at FCCLA for nearly a century. The L.A. Bach Festival became an organization separate from FCCLA late in the 20th century, and eventually the two organizations separated in 2011. Musica Angelica approached First Congregational about being a home to their new Musica Angelica Bach Fest, returning this important cultural event to a space enthusiastic about Bach’s music and legacy and to the city. Musica Angelica’s dedication to period instrument performance practice brings a new and welcome freshness to Bach’s music in Los Angeles, and Martin Haselböck’s expertise and depth of experience with Bach’s music will create a memorable experience for the connoisseur and beginner alike.

ABOUT THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CURCH OF LOS ANGELES CATHEDRAL:

Founded in 1867, The Cathedral is the city's oldest continuous Protestant congregation. It shines in the heart of LA as the city’s center for progressive Christianity and contemporary spirituality. With justice for

all Angelinos as a core principle, First Church partners with other justice-minded organizations across the city to raise money and help bolster ongoing justice projects. The Great Organs of First Church, situated in the enormously vaulted Sanctuary, together constitute perhaps the largest church musical instrument with approximately 346 ranks, 265 stops, 233 voices, 18 divisions and more than 20,000 pipes. It 2019, the church made history when it elected its first female reverend (Rev. Laura Fregin) in its 150+ year history. FCCLA is open and affirming, a home for people of many faith backgrounds, and a place where no one is turned away and everyone can believe as they choose and at their own pace. Music at FCCLA has been a defining feature for decades, shining as a beacon for classical music lovers in sacred spaces in Los Angeles. Ongoing series including The Great Works On The Great Organs, MLK “Fulfilling The Dream” concert, and Christmas In The Cathedral are augmented by partnership events like the Golden Thread Concert Series with Resonance Collective, The Musica Angelica Bach Fest, and concerts by other artistic partners like the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, VOX Femina, and Theater Dybbuk.

https://www.fccla.org/music

Facebook & Instagram: @1stchurchla