Our 2021-2022 Season
Celebrating 50 Years!
Oct 8-10, 2021
Die Familie Bach
Dec 3-5, 2021
Heinrich Schütz
Feb 25-27, 2022
Venetian Vespers
May 6-8, 2022
J.S. Bach
Subscribe to our new season and save! Subscribe to all four concerts and receive reserved seating at the front of the house and discounted ticket pricing.
Oct 8–10
Die Familie Bach
Three Generations of Great Composers
Friday, October 8, 2021, 8pm
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell, San Francisco
Saturday, October 9, 2021, 8pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado, Palo Alto
Sunday, October 10, 2021, 4pm
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing, Berkeley
Our fall concert set includes J.S. Bach’s beloved motet for five-part choir, Jesu meine Freude, as well as masterworks by other members of the Bach family, including Unser Leben ist ein Schatten by Johann Bach and Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach.
“California Bach excels in the intricate polyphony of Bach’s choral writing.”
For the October concerts there will be no sales at the door.
Dec 3–5
Heinrich Schütz
The Christmas Story and Holiday Favorites from our First Half-Century
Friday, December 3, 2021, 8pm
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell, San Francisco
Saturday, December 4, 2021, 8pm
All Saints’ Episcopal Church, 555 Waverley, Palo Alto
Sunday, December 5, 2021, 4pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft, Berkeley
Our winter concerts feature the jubilant, seldom heard Christmas Story (Weihnachtshistorie) by Heinrich Schütz for six-part choir, soloists and Baroque ensemble, which recounts the nativity in a series of delightful tableaux. To round out the program, we’re excited to present a retrospective of favorites from our popular “Christmas Around the World” concerts, with songs, carols, and choral setting from many lands and many centuries.
“Best Choral Group” and “Best Early Music/Baroque Ensemble”
Feb 25–27
Venetian Vespers
Psalm Settings of Monteverdi, Rovetta, and Cavalli
Friday, February 25, 2022, 8pm
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell, San Francisco
Saturday, February 26, 2022, 8pm
All Saints’ Episcopal Church, 555 Waverley, Palo Alto
Sunday, February 27, 2022, 4pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft, Berkeley
Seventeenth Century Venice was the epicenter of musical innovation—especially vocal music. We’ll present lesser-known treasures by Claudio Monteverdi and his disciples at St. Mark’s, Giovanni Rovetta and Francesco Cavalli. Among other works, the choir will perform Monteverdi’s well known Beatus vir, a Dixit Dominus setting by Rovetta, and a Magnificat by Cavalli, accompanied by Baroque ensemble.
“The California Bach Society has become a prospector of Baroque gold. Its concerts have brought forth exquisite, rarely heard works by forgotten masters from the lost frontier to the delight of its audiences.”
May 6–8
J.S. Bach
The Passion According to Saint John
Please note starting times are a half-hour earlier.
Friday, May 6, 2022, *7:30pm*
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 1111 O’Farrell, San Francisco
Saturday, May 7, 2022, *7:30pm*
First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto
Sunday, May 8, 2022, *3:30pm*
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing, Berkeley
As the culmination of our 50th season, we will present J.S. Bach’s towering St. John Passion, a work of unparalleled dramatic intensity and transcendent beauty for choir, soloists and full Baroque orchestra. We’re particularly excited to share this work with our audiences, because it is one in which the choir takes a very active role in the drama. And, following these concerts, you’ll be invited to join us for a gala reception to help us celebrate our golden anniversary.
“The listener had the uncanny, elevating sense of hearing every voice devoted to a single purpose.
It was, in the broadest sense of the term, a musically spiritual experience.”
View and download our Season Brochure
The choir, Fall 2017. Photo by Will Toft.