88th ANNUAL BACH FESTIVAL-Feb 3-26, 2023

Bach Festival Website

Free Special Events

(Winter Park, FL— February 6, 2023)— The centerpiece of every season is the Annual Bach Festival which features choral masterworks, recitals, chamber music, lectures, and more over three weeks on the Rollins College campus. A favorite of Floridians for almost 90 years, the Annual Bach Festival is also an increasingly popular destination event. The performance venues are within walking distance of the four-star Alfond Inn, as well as the fashionable Park Avenue dining and shopping district.

This year’s festival will commence with a recital by Paul Jacobs, considered by many to be the finest organist in the world. Becoming a perennial favorite and featuring a diverse collection of classical music’s most beautiful works chosen by Dr. Sinclair, the Spiritual Spaces program is designed with a seamless connection for reflection, restoration, inspiration, and the rejuvenating power of music. The first concert of the festival featuring the Bach Choir and Orchestra will celebrate three centuries of outstanding music by women composers in a program entitled Venus Ascending! Always an audience favorite is the Concertos by Candlelight, which will feature the celebrated Adam Golka, piano and Itamar Zorman, violin. Featured ensembles making their Central Florida debut, The King’s Singers and Bach Vocal Artists, will offer a mix of classical, jazz, and contemporary.

In keeping with tradition, the Annual Bach Festival will conclude with one of JS Bach’s iconic choral masterworks. his gripping and powerful St. Matthew Passion, performed by the 185-voice Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra.

88th Annual Bach Festival

Concertos by Candlelight

Friday, February 17 • 7:30 pm | Knowles Memorial Chapel
Saturday, February 18 • 7:30 pm | Knowles Memorial Chapel
This program continues the Bach Festival tradition of featuring two world-class artists in classical music’s most iconic concertos. Adam Golka, last here in 2020 when performing all 32 Beethoven sonatas, will be playing Beethoven’s Piano Concert No. 3. Itamar Zorman will perform the Max Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 and O Martirio Dos Insetos (The Martyrdom of Insects) by Hector Villa-Lobos. The program will also feature an award-winning piece by Rollins College’s own Daniel Crozier. Tickets from $25

Itamar Zorman, violin and Adam Golka, piano

Sunday, February 19 • 3:00 pm | Tiedkte Concert Hall
Back by popular demand! Two consummate artists continue their collaboration, creating a collective virtuosic experience. A violin and piano recital is classical music in a truly pure form. Tickets from $30

PRELUDE Preconcert Talk: J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion w/ Rev. Nola Reed Knouse, Ph.D., (Retired) Director, Moravian Music Foundation
Saturday, February 25 • 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm | Knowles Memorial Chapel | FREE
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Lisa Terry, viola da gamba and Joanne Kong, harpsichord
Saturday, February 25 • 3:00 pm | Knowles Memorial Chapel | FREE

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Enjoy a rare opportunity to hear two historical instruments performed by two master musicians playing repertoire written specifically for these instruments. This is a free concert for our patrons. Works include the Sonata in G Major by Christoph Schaffrath and J. S. Bach’s Sonata in D major. In addition, the duo will perform 19th century composer Franz Xaver Chwatal’s Variations on "Was soll ich in der Fremde thun" for gamba and piano. Two solo works will round out the program: a sonata for solo viola da gamba by Carl Friedrich Abel, and C. P. E. Bach’s virtuosic harpsichord variations, Les Folies d'Espagne.

J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
Sunday, February 26 • 3:00 pm | Knowles Memorial Chapel
J.S. Bach is considered by most musicians to be the most important composer in history, but he was also an amazing dramatist. Both skills are on display in his St. Matthew Passion. First performed on Good Friday in 1729, this last of Bach’s passions is the largest single composition he wrote. In both scale and musical demands, this composition takes the audience and music-makers alike on an emotional musical journey. Conductor John V. Sinclair considers this Bach’s finest large-scale work and one of the greatest creations of Western civilization. Every moment of this work confirms Bach’s genius. Tickets from $30

About Artistic Director and Conductor John V. Sinclair

Bach Festival Society’s award-winning Artistic Director and Conductor John V. Sinclair is a career educator serving as Chair of the Music Department at Rollins College, as well as conductor of the International Moravian Music Festivals and Orlando’s Messiah Choral Society. Dr. Sinclair has conducted nearly 900 performances of the beloved Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT leading singers from across the country. In his 33 years as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Society, Dr. Sinclair has elevated the quality of musicianship and strengthened the artistic capabilities of the choir by introducing challenging and diverse programming through powerful choral performances while sustaining the legacy of J.S. Bach and other great composers he influenced.

About the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park

The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park's mission is to inspire the human sprit through extraordinary music, featuring powerful choral performances and innovative programming that celebrated the legacy of J.S. Bach. The 88th Season offers a dynamic array of world-class musicians and vocalists performing classical masterworks and contemporary compositions that will delight, challenge, and inspire listeners. Founded in 1935 at Rollins College, the Bach Festival Society continues to secure critical acclaim for its artistic excellence and its commitment to elevating new music while celebrating tradition composers.