Bach Cantatas: with Labadie & La Chapelle de Québec

A few things to know ...

J. S. Bach’s cantatas were composed for church services, but they’re more like opera scenes in the range of powerful emotions they convey—from love and desire to suffering and hope. The singers of La Chapelle de Québec perform Bach’s music with a mesmerizing beauty, as if “you were hearing each individual voice reverberate through the seamless harmony” (The New York Times).

Johann Sebastian Bach may not have composed any operas, but as you’ll hear in a captivating selection of cantatas and motets for singers and orchestra, the music he wrote for Lutheran church services possesses the same dramatic power. Don’t miss your chance to experience these treasures of sacred music when conductor Bernard Labadie and La Chapelle de Québec return to Southam Hall.

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Aware, calls the voice to us), a musical setting of poetry from the biblical Song of Songs, explores desire, devotion, and love both human and divine. Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and mouth and deed and life), meanwhile, commemorates the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with music of hope and joy, culminating in the lullaby-like chorale “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” And the motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing unto the Lord a new song) opens the program in an intimate performance for choir and eight instrumentalists.