St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244

with St. Paul's Choir School
Saturday, March 23rd, 2024, 4.00pm

Lindsey Chapel Series

Thursdays at noon
February 15 - March 21, 2024

Cantata Series
Perry Stabat Mater

Sunday, March 24, 10.00am

Holy Week
Good Friday and
Tenebrae services

Friday, March 29, 12.o0pm
Friday, March 29, 7.30 pm

Commissioned Motets

September-May, 2023-24

Season Announcement

2023– 2024 Performance Season

Inspiring artistry and captivating experiences through the lens of Bach

An Overview of your Impact

Our mission

Emmanuel Music engages with audiences and musicians to explore the enduring questions of our shared human experience, building on our core commitment to the music of J.S. Bach.

Upcoming

A photo of the Lindsey Chapel stained glass windows
performance
Lindsey Chapel Series
February 15 — March 21, 2024

Our popular Lindsey Chapel Series provides free performances by solo musicians and small ensembles from 12:00–1:00pm on Thursdays throughout Lent. This year we present the complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin of J. S. Bach performed by six extraordinary Boston violinists.  Experience the architectural beauty and intimate acoustics of one of the most beautiful Lady Chapels in the country.

A photo featuring Nina Simone and J.S. Bach
performance
Nina Simone and Bach:
"A Connection of Two Geniuses"
Thursday March 7th, 2024 at 6:30pm

Emmanuel Music is thrilled to premiere “A Connection of Two Geniuses”, created by renowned local storyteller, jazz artist, and Emmanuel Music board member Valerie Stephens and local pianist and composer Jonathan Fagan.

This hour-long program features this 30-minute new work blending the iconic style of Nina Simone with the baroque heroics of J.S. Bach. The performance will be followed by a participatory discussion with the performers, and a reception with hors d’oeuvres and refreshments.

St. Matthew Passion artwork
performance
St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Saturday March 23, 2024,  4.00pm

Emmanuel Music presents Bach’s towering masterpiece, considered by some to be the greatest achievement in Western music: the St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244. Profoundly beautiful, dramatic, and compelling, the St. Matthew Passion expresses our human condition and our capacity for hate, love, and transcendence like no other work.

Learn more
Christmas At Emmanuel painting
performance
Christmas At Emmanuel
On-Demand Through January 16, 2024

Join Emmanuel Music, along with Cambridge Common Voices, Andrew Clark, conductor, and Boston Children’s Chorus, Krystal Morin, conductor, for an opulent celebration of the holiday season, centered around Benjamin Britten’s dramatic cantata Saint Nicolas, inspired by Saint Nicholas’ legendary care for the poor and oppressed. Set against the lush horns and arias of Bach’s Epiphanytide cantata, Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65, we link holiday traditions old and new with a newly commissioned motet by Jonathan Woody, inspired by its accompanying program.

A performance at the Bach Institute
learn and engage
The Bach Institute January Intensive: "Bach's Time"
January 4-15, 2024

The Bach Institute celebrates our 50+ years of experience studying and performing the works of Bach with public talks, open rehearsals, and concerts; we welcome a select group of talented musicians for an intensive workshop on Bach cantata arias , culminating in a final Showcase concert.

A closeup of a book of sheet music
Cantata
Bach Cantata Series at Emmanuel Church
Sundays September-May at 10.00am

Continuing our 50-year old tradition, Emmanuel Music presents Bach's astounding human document, in the liturgical setting for which it was intended, as well as other sacred works. Sundays at 10.00 am September - May.

A photo of a performance at a church
Learn & Engage
Bach for You
2023-2024 Offerings

Bach wrote some of the most sublime music, but that doesn't mean you should only observe it from a distance, on a pedestal. Here are some opportunities for self reflection and personal connection through the music of our favorite composer and those he inspired.

A photo from BachFest
Performance
Bachfest In Boston
June 5, 2024, 7.00 pm

A Bachfest Leipzig Sendoff Concert

Bach         Was frag ich nach der Welt, BWV 94
Epstein     commissioned prelude motet

Bach        Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott, BWV 101
Harbison  commissioned prelude motet Fadensonnen

Bach         Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut, BWV 113
Ruehr       commissioned prelude motet Your Healing Word

Bach         Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, BWV 137
Wallen     commissioned prelude motet

Emmanuel Music goes to Leipzig! We’re deeply honored to have been invited to participate in this global celebration of Bach, and wish we could take all our Boston friends with us. Before we head to BachFest in Germany, we want to share the experience of BachFest — with some added benefits — for our local audience. Experience our program of four Bach cantatas, accompanied by newly commissioned motets inspired by each of the Bach works. Emmanuel Music continues our mission of serving as a living laboratory of Bach, both at home and abroad.

An Overview of your impact

We couldn’t be more delighted to celebrate with you, all of Emmanuel Music’s artistry and programming, both innovative and traditional, as we prepare to enter our 54th season.

We hope the below brochure will demonstrate how innovation meets tradition at Emmanuel Music; how we uphold our artistic legacy while embracing the tools and needs of our current moment.

As Emmanuel Music’s programs are 75% funded by individual philanthropy, none of this would be possible without your support in any amount.

Emmanuel Music Brochure featuring Ryan Turner

An essential destination for Bach performance and scholarship, Emmanuel Music offers inspiring artistry and experiences—welcoming both the seasoned listener and the newly curious—and exuberantly fulfills a vital and unique role in both the Boston and global cultural landscape.

the Bach institute
A Living Laboratory for the Music of J. S. Bach

The Bach Institute, now stretched across the entire performance season, is designed to be open and inclusive, providing access to learning about Bach's music and engaging in participatory activities designed for music professionals, aficionados, amateurs, and the public.

A closeup of hands playing the piano
How you can help us
Support Emmanuel Music

With your support, Emmanuel Music provides inspiring experiences for listeners from all walks of life and nurtures a warm, vital community that shares the love of extraordinary music.

Enriching the cultural life of Boston and the musical world at large.

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Emmanuel Music Annual Report 2023

Support emmanuel music

With your support, Emmanuel Music provides inspiring experiences for listeners from all walks of life and nurtures a warm, vital community that shares the love of extraordinary music—enriching the cultural life of Boston and the musical world at large.

Give now
Orchestra performing