Portland Choir Heads to Prestigious Bach Festival in Leipzig, Germany
by James Bash, for The Oregonian
Portland’s own Bach Cantata Choir will sing in Leipzig, Germany, as part of the 2024 Leipzig Bach Festival, the preeminent festival centered on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The festival presents 157 events from June 7 to 16 in churches and other venues in Leipzig. It draws an international audience, and its events regularly sell out.
Bach was the director of church music in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750. His duties included conducting choirs at the St. Thomas School and providing four very large churches with music. Many of these works were cantatas for choir, orchestra, and soloists that expressed religious texts from the Bible.
“This is the 300th anniversary of when Bach started to write his cantata cycles,” said Ralph Nelson, Artistic Director of the Bach Cantata Choir. “He wrote five cycles that covered every festival day of the church year except during Lent when cantatas were not done. Bach started writing cantatas based on Lutheran chorale tunes, which were well-known in the Protestant part of Germany.”
Formed in 2005 by Nelson with the intent of singing all of Bach’s cantatas, the choir still has a long way to go because Bach, being a hard-working genius, cranked out a ton of them.
“Bach wrote around 300 cantatas, although we have the scores for only 215,” noted Nelson, “unless more are found. They are great works of art and demand a lot from the singers and instrumentalists. So far, we have done 79 of them.”
During a typical season, the choir gives four cantata concerts on Sunday afternoons at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church in Northeast Portland. Each performance is free, although donations are welcome, and features a professional chamber orchestra and soloists, and the 50-voice choir, which consists of auditioned volunteer singers and professional section leaders.
It was through serendipitous circumstances that the Bach Festival discovered the BCC. The choir toured Germany in 2018 and performed in Leipzig. That impressed concertgoers who notified the festival’s Artistic Director Michael Maul. Maul asked the choir to participate in this year’s festival along with four other vocal ensembles from the United States: Emmanuel Music Boston, Bach Cantata Vespers Choir (Chicago), The Bach Choir of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), and Bach Collegium San Diego.
“It’s a huge honor to sing at the International Bach Festival,” said tenor and choir vice president Woody Richen. “It doesn’t get any better than that. Bach is not easy. Sometimes the voice leading is odd and not intuitive. So you have to be at the top of your game.”
Some members of the choir, like Richen, are taking language classes to buttress their singing. It can be intimidating for any foreign choir to sing in German in Germany, but the BCC has soprano Dorothea Lail as its secret sauce. Lail is a native German with a very strong choral background.
“What you have to do with American singers, is get their sound towards the front of their face instead of in the back near the throat,” said Lail. “They’re the rolling r’s and many other sounds that take a lot of listening and practice.”
For its concert in Leipzig (June 11), Nelson will lead the BCC in Cantata 38, “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir” (“In Deepest Need I Cry to You”), Cantata 80, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,” (“A Mighty Fortress is our God”), and Cantata 115, “Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit” (“O My Spirit Be Prepared”). This concert includes four soloists from the Pacific Northwest: soprano Vakare Petroliūnaité, alto Hannah Penn, tenor Leslie Green, and bass Jacob Herbert along with the Leipzig Camerata Orchestra.
Leading up to its appearance in Leipzig, the BCC will also perform a separate program at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin and the Friedenskirche in Potsdam. It will also perform at the concert pavilion in the Leipzig main train station and at the Simon and Judah Church in Prague. These concerts will present some American numbers, including a new piece, “The Promised Land”, arranged by Portland composer John Vergin.
As a sendoff to its Leipzig appearance, the choir will give two concerts. The first, on May 19 at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, will offer Cantata 80, Cantata 115, and several other works. The second, on May 25 at St. Michael and All Angels Church, will present Bach’s motet “Jesu, meine Freude” (“Jesus, my Joy”) and other pieces.
Like its regular season concerts, these concerts are gratis. However, concertgoers should be ready to clear their throats and warble. That’s because Nelson will invite audience members to sing a chorale in English after the choir has sung it in German.
“The sound from the audience was amazing at our last concert,” said Nelson, “And the festival in Leipzig will also invite concertgoers to sing a chorale from each cantata. Since the St. Nicholas Church seats over a thousand people, that should create an awesome experience.”
Portland’s own Bach Cantata Choir will sing in Leipzig, Germany, as part of the 2024 Leipzig Bach Festival, the preeminent festival centered on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The festival presents 157 events from June 7 to 16 in churches and other venues in Leipzig. It draws an international audience, and its events regularly sell out.
Bach was the director of church music in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750. His duties included conducting choirs at the St. Thomas School and providing four very large churches with music. Many of these works were cantatas for choir, orchestra, and soloists that expressed religious texts from the Bible.
“This is the 300th anniversary of when Bach started to write his cantata cycles,” said Ralph Nelson, Artistic Director of the Bach Cantata Choir. “He wrote five cycles that covered every festival day of the church year except during Lent when cantatas were not done. Bach started writing cantatas based on Lutheran chorale tunes, which were well-known in the Protestant part of Germany.”
Formed in 2005 by Nelson with the intent of singing all of Bach’s cantatas, the choir still has a long way to go because Bach, being a hard-working genius, cranked out a ton of them.
“Bach wrote around 300 cantatas, although we have the scores for only 215,” noted Nelson, “unless more are found. They are great works of art and demand a lot from the singers and instrumentalists. So far, we have done 79 of them.”
During a typical season, the choir gives four cantata concerts on Sunday afternoons at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church in Northeast Portland. Each performance is free, although donations are welcome, and features a professional chamber orchestra and soloists, and the 50-voice choir, which consists of auditioned volunteer singers and professional section leaders.
It was through serendipitous circumstances that the Bach Festival discovered the BCC. The choir toured Germany in 2018 and performed in Leipzig. That impressed concertgoers who notified the festival’s Artistic Director Michael Maul. Maul asked the choir to participate in this year’s festival along with four other vocal ensembles from the United States: Emmanuel Music Boston, Bach Cantata Vespers Choir (Chicago), The Bach Choir of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), and Bach Collegium San Diego.
“It’s a huge honor to sing at the International Bach Festival,” said tenor and choir vice president Woody Richen. “It doesn’t get any better than that. Bach is not easy. Sometimes the voice leading is odd and not intuitive. So you have to be at the top of your game.”
Some members of the choir, like Richen, are taking language classes to buttress their singing. It can be intimidating for any foreign choir to sing in German in Germany, but the BCC has soprano Dorothea Lail as its secret sauce. Lail is a native German with a very strong choral background.
“What you have to do with American singers, is get their sound towards the front of their face instead of in the back near the throat,” said Lail. “They’re the rolling r’s and many other sounds that take a lot of listening and practice.”
For its concert in Leipzig (June 11), Nelson will lead the BCC in Cantata 38, “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir” (“In Deepest Need I Cry to You”), Cantata 80, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,” (“A Mighty Fortress is our God”), and Cantata 115, “Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit” (“O My Spirit Be Prepared”). This concert includes four soloists from the Pacific Northwest: soprano Vakare Petroliūnaité, alto Hannah Penn, tenor Leslie Green, and bass Jacob Herbert along with the Leipzig Camerata Orchestra.
Leading up to its appearance in Leipzig, the BCC will also perform a separate program at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin and the Friedenskirche in Potsdam. It will also perform at the concert pavilion in the Leipzig main train station and at the Simon and Judah Church in Prague. These concerts will present some American numbers, including a new piece, “The Promised Land”, arranged by Portland composer John Vergin.
As a sendoff to its Leipzig appearance, the choir will give two concerts. The first, on May 19 at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, will offer Cantata 80, Cantata 115, and several other works. The second, on May 25 at St. Michael and All Angels Church, will present Bach’s motet “Jesu, meine Freude” (“Jesus, my Joy”) and other pieces.
Like its regular season concerts, these concerts are gratis. However, concertgoers should be ready to clear their throats and warble. That’s because Nelson will invite audience members to sing a chorale in English after the choir has sung it in German.
“The sound from the audience was amazing at our last concert,” said Nelson, “And the festival in Leipzig will also invite concertgoers to sing a chorale from each cantata. Since the St. Nicholas Church seats over a thousand people, that should create an awesome experience.”
About the Bach Cantata Choir
The Bach Cantata Choir's mission is to sing the entire set of cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach over a period of 30 years (view cantatas performed to date). We are a choir of about 50 members plus an orchestra of between 8 to 15 members depending upon the concert.
We perform approximately five concerts each year – two or three cantatas per concert. Most concerts are on Sunday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. and all concerts are held at the Rose City Park Presbyterian Church at 1907 NE 45th Avenue in Portland, Oregon (map). Concerts are free (free-will offering accepted) unless advertised otherwise.
The Bach Cantata Choir is a legally organized non-profit corporation under Oregon law, and is a registered 501(c)(3) corporation with the IRS. Donations to the choir are fully deductible for income-tax purposes.
We perform approximately five concerts each year – two or three cantatas per concert. Most concerts are on Sunday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. and all concerts are held at the Rose City Park Presbyterian Church at 1907 NE 45th Avenue in Portland, Oregon (map). Concerts are free (free-will offering accepted) unless advertised otherwise.
The Bach Cantata Choir is a legally organized non-profit corporation under Oregon law, and is a registered 501(c)(3) corporation with the IRS. Donations to the choir are fully deductible for income-tax purposes.
Ralph Nelson, Artistic Director
Composer/conductor Ralph Nelson is in demand as an Artist-in-Residence throughout the Portland area. A graduate of Amherst College and subsequently a composition and conducting student of Nadia Boulanger in France, Nelson has served in many capacities since moving to Portland, Oregon over 40 years ago. For 22 years, he was a member of the administrative staff of the Oregon Symphony, and then became Executive Director of the Portland Symphonic Choir. During the summer of 2008, Ralph studied conducting with Helmuth Rilling, Tom Davies and Tim Sawyer at the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene.
In addition to composing and teaching, Ralph is Choir Director at First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Director of the Holladay Park Plaza Singers, and a member of the Portland Symphonic Choir. In the summer, Ralph sings with Mastersingers USA, an all-male group under the direction of former Amherst College Professor Bruce McInnes.
In addition to composing and teaching, Ralph is Choir Director at First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Director of the Holladay Park Plaza Singers, and a member of the Portland Symphonic Choir. In the summer, Ralph sings with Mastersingers USA, an all-male group under the direction of former Amherst College Professor Bruce McInnes.
Meet our Board of Directors.
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