Who We Are
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.
Our Vision
Our History
50 years
Emmanuel Music, founded in 1970 by Craig Smith, has served as the ensemble-in-residence for Boston’s Emmanuel Church for fifty years. The two organizations maintain a close, symbiotic relationship that is crucial to each entity’s individual success. The primary activity of the ensemble is the weekly presentation of the sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical context for which they were written.
Learn about our history
50 years
On May 14th, 2023, Artistic Director of Emmanuel Music and Music Director of Emmanuel Church, Ryan Turner, completed his first comprehensive cycle of Bach's 200 sacred cantatas. An astounding achievement for any conductor, we are honored to continually celebrate Ryan in his work with our community.
Ryan Turner's first 10 years
in memoriam
For 37 years Emmanuel Church and Emmanuel Music stood at the center of Craig Smith’s musical and spiritual life. Craig arrived at this church on Newbury Street as choirmaster in 1970. A visionary even then, he probably could not have imagined how the organization he created would grow in reach and in expertise; he could not have imagined some of the obstacles it would have to overcome, or the exemplary role in the community, and indeed the world, that it would eventually come to play. Like Bach, he was doing his job.
Craig Smith's legacy