2021 Illinois Bach Academy
BWV 229, the motet “Komm, Jesu, komm”
Cantata 78, Jesu, der du meine Seele
Cantata 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden
The 2020 Illinois Bach Academy was not held due to COVID-19. The intended focus was the St. Matthew Passion, which is now planned for 2022.
2019 Illinois Bach Academy
The focus in 2019 were the cantatas associated with the Reformation:
Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29
Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, BWV 79
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80
Alles, was von Gott geboren, BWV 80a
Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft, BWV 50
Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
2018 Illinois Bach Academy
In 2018 we took an intimate look into Bach’s Cantatas. As music director for the city of Leipzig, one of Bach’s duties was to compose a cantata each week which was then sung as the central music offering on Sunday – except for the period of Lent, when no complex music with independent instruments was heard. Over his years as Thomaskantor, Bach performed five cantatas on the last Sunday before this “quiet time”, all of which point forward to the great Passion settings which broke the Lenten silence. For 2018, the Bach Academy explores these cantatas, four by JS himself (BWV 22, 23, 127, and 159*), and one by his second cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach (Ja, mir hast du Arbeit gemacht).
2017 Illinois Bach Academy The inaugural Illinois Bach Academy featured a performance of the St. John Passion in the Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center.