Dallas Bach Society Unveils 2024-2025 Season Featuring World Premiere & More

For more than four decades, the Dallas Bach Society has delighted audiences with its distinguished Masterworks Concerts and intimate Aldredge House recitals of Baroque and Classical Music dedicated to historical authenticity. Artistic Director James Richman reflects on his role as steward of this great tradition: "Our 42nd consecutive season explores the story of our musical favorites with performances of the most famous repertoire, plus novelties, and lesser-known works. I am delighted we're able to continue serving the Dallas community with a rich array of concerts and expanding our audience internationally through the release of three important and unusual new recordings."

Returning to Dallas's beautiful historical Aldredge House on September 21, 2024, the Dallas Bach Society presents "Il Concerto delle donne," a program inspired by The Three Ladies of Ferrara, whose performances influenced Monteverdi's compositional style and led to the innovative musical practice of the late 16th and 17th centuries known as "seconda practica." In addition to Monteverdi, the offerings will include works by Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Barbara Strozzi, and Handel. The solo genius of Associate Artistic Director Arash Noori on the lute, baroque guitar, and theorbo will be on display Saturday January 18, 2025 at the second Aldredge concert, and the venue's final program presents Artistic Director James Richman February 15, 2025 celebrating the release of his recording for Rubicon Records of the complete Rameau works for Harpsichord with music from the French tradition.

The much-heralded Masterworks Series launches its season at Zion Lutheran Church October 4, 2024, with an all-Bach benefit concert entitled "The Magical Flute" showcasing the formidable flutist Taya Teresevich. Next up at Zion, on November 9, 2024, "Merrie England" will illustrate the best of the British Baroque tradition with music from the masques, operas, and incidental suites by Locke, Purcell, and John Blow. In conjunction with the world premiere recording of Handel's original Messiah (1741 Version) the Dallas Bach Choir and Orchestra along with four exceptional soloists- Kara McBain, soprano; Dianna Grabowski, alto; Dann Coakwell, tenor; and David Grogan, bass-will perform the 1741 edition of this masterpiece at the acoustically exceptional Meyerson Symphony Center.

The very next evening, the Dallas Bach Society invites the public to join in its popular annual tradition at Zion: the Messiah Singalong. The ensemble rings out the old year with Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Gloria featuring violinist Stephanie Noori playing the solo parts for all four works, again at Zion Lutheran Church. Inspired several years ago by a combination of Baroque and Indian Dance for a splendid production of Rameau's Fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour in Washington D.C, the Dallas Bach Society was delighted to join forces with the celebrated New York Baroque Dance Company and the Houston-based Indian dance ensemble Silamban to create an unusual, cross-cultural event--"The Baroque-Carnatic Connection," last seen in Houston and now taking place March 16, 2025, at the Moody Concert Hall in Dallas. The season concludes at Zion May 3, 2025, with Bach's searing Saint John Passion.

To purchase tickets please visit Dallas Bach Society's page at Ticket DFW and for more information please visit Dallas Bach Society's website. For this season's complete program information, please see pp. 3 & 4.

Since its founding in 1982 by beloved organist Paul Riedo, the Dallas Bach Society has increasingly been recognized as one of the country's premier ensembles performing on original instruments. Under the direction of Artistic Director James Richman since 1995, the Society unites the finest singers and instrumentalists from the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex, from further afield in the United States and from abroad, in lively and historically informed performances of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Monteverdi, Couperin, and Schütz, as well as Mozart, Haydn, and early Beethoven. Every season the Dallas Bach Society presents a full program of Baroque and Classic music, showcasing little-known repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries along with audience favorites including Handel's Messiah (in both the early and Mozart versions), Bach's Passions, cantatas, and Brandenburg Concerti, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, as well as Baroque opera and opera-ballet with the New York Baroque Dance Company. In recent seasons, important performances have included Bach's Matthäus-Passion with the Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas; a music and dance presentation of the life of the black French composer Joseph Boulogne with Contemporary Ballet Dallas and the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts funded by an important New Works grant from TACA; the modern staged premiere of Rameau's Zéphyre with the New York Baroque Dance Company; and important recitals by Dutch recorder soloist Paul Leenhouts, tenor Dann Coakwell, countertenor Drew Minter, and gambist Brent Wissick, as well as French cantatas with Ann Monoyios and Bernard Deletré of the Paris Opera. Educational outreach features the new Baroque Break-out program in collaboration with Wilmer-Hutchins High School and other local high schools, funded by Dallas Arts and Culture.

THE DALLAS BACH SOCIETY 2024 - 2025 SEASON

New Recordings

In October, Rubicon Records will release the charming chamber opera Les Arts Florissants by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, which the Dallas Bach Society performed at Moody Concert Hall with the esteemed New York Baroque Dance Company. Starring Haley Sicking as Peace, with Kara McBain as Music, Dianna Grabowski as Architecture and Matthieu Peyregne as Painting, it is the return of Peace which leads to the Flourishing Arts. Discord, villainously performed by Patrick Gnage, led the forces of darkness strongly but to no avail - although we are reminded that Discord is also immortal, and we must be eternally vigilant.

The 1741 version of Handel's Messiah, with the chorus, soloists, and orchestra of the Dallas Bach Society, augmented by boy soprano Hayden Smith of the St. Mark's School of Dallas, will be released on the Onyx label in November. Assiduously edited by Malcolm Bruno, the 1741 project hews close to the composer's original intent.

Finally, the complete harpsichord works of Jean Philippe Rameau, performed by Artistic Director James Richman, will be released in February in conjunction with his recital in the Aldredge House.

Aldredge House Series

6:00pm Hors d'oeuvres, libations & Scheduled House Tours 7:00pm Concert

Il Concerto delle donne

7 pm | Saturday, September 21, 2024 | Aldredge House

Arash Noori, lute and theorbo

7 pm | Saturday, January 18, 2025 | Aldredge House

James Richman, harpsichord

7 pm | Saturday, February 15, 2025 | Aldredge House

Masterworks Series

The Magical Flute

7:30 pm | Saturday, October 5, 2024 | Zion Lutheran Church

Merrie England

7:30 pm | Saturday, November 9, 2024 | Zion Lutheran Church

Handel's Messiah (1741 Version)

7:00 pm | Monday, December 16, 2024 | Meyerson Symphony Center

Messiah Sing-Along

7:30 pm | Tuesday, December 17, 2024 | Zion Lutheran Church

Viva Vivaldi Gloria & The Four Seasons

7:00 pm | Tuesday, December 31, 2024 | Zion Lutheran Church

The Baroque-Carnatic Connection

7:00 pm | Sunday, March 16, 2025 | Moody Concert Hall

Saint John Passion of J.S. Bach

7:30 pm | Saturday, May 3, 2025 | Zion Lutheran Church

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