EarRelevant Staff | 14 JUL 2025
A new chapter in Chicago’s classical music scene begins this fall as Bach in the City, a recently formed nonprofit ensemble specializing in historically informed Baroque performance, launches its inaugural 2025–2026 season. Led by longtime conductor and organist Richard Webster, the group aims to chart a distinct course from its predecessor, the Bach Week Festival, with a firm commitment to period instruments and adventurous programming.
The debut season, announced July 3, will include three concerts anchored in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries, presented in historically appropriate style. The group will perform on Baroque instruments and in intimate venues chosen for their acoustics and atmosphere, including the Romanesque Revival-style St. Vincent de Paul Church in Lincoln Park.
“We decided to make a fresh start and leap into the vanguard of Baroque performance,” said Webster, who directed the Bach Week Festival for five decades. “This is not Bach Week 2.0.”
The season opens October 3 with “Music in Heaven’s Castle,” a program inspired by the Himmelsburg (Heaven’s Castle) chapel in Weimar, where Bach once served. The concert includes works by Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, and Georg Muffat, with countertenor Marco Rivera Rosa, a rising student at DePaul University, featured in Cantata No. 54, a rarely performed work notable for its bold opening dissonances. The program also includes Telemann’s festive Overture Suite in D Major, Bach’s Concerto in C Major for three harpsichords, and his Violin Concerto in A Minor.
The season continues on January 11 with “Bach’s Musical World,” a chamber music concert at DePaul University’s Allen Recital Hall, designed to place Bach in conversation with the musical voices of his time. The program features two of Telemann’s Paris Quartets, a trio sonata by Dieterich Buxtehude, a sonata by George Frideric Handel, and Bach’s own Violin Sonata in B Minor, known for elevating the harpsichord to an equal voice in ensemble music.
The season concludes March 20 with the Chicago premiere of a newly reconstructed version of Bach’s lost St. Mark Passion (BWV 247). The performance will feature a reconstruction by British musicologist Malcolm Bruno, first presented in New York in April. Because Bach’s original score is lost, Bruno’s version draws on existing music Bach is believed to have reused in the 1731 Passion, notably from his Funeral Ode (BWV 198). Webster is composing new settings for the spoken recitatives and crowd scenes to complete the work.
“To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first time any version of the St. Mark Passion has been performed in Chicago,” said Webster, who attended Bruno’s New York premiere. He called the experience “electrifying.”
The St. Mark Passion performance will feature soprano Hannah De Priest, countertenor Ryan Belongie, tenor Oliver Camacho, and bass David McFerrin, with a full chorus and Baroque orchestra including lutes, violas da gamba, and period winds.
Joining Webster in the ensemble’s leadership is harpsichordist and DePaul professor Jason J. Moy, who has been appointed as the organization’s first associate music director. A specialist in early music and a familiar presence from the Bach Week Festival’s later years, Moy will perform and curate programs alongside Webster. The October concert features Moy, Webster, and Jacob Reed in Bach’s Concerto for Three Harpsichords.
“Jason brings inexhaustible creativity, impeccable musicianship, and a collaborative spirit,” said Webster.
The organization plans to spotlight young talent throughout the season. Countertenor Marco Rivera Rosa, who began professional performances in high school, is one of several emerging artists scheduled to appear.
Founded in 2024, Bach in the City was launched with a March 2025 pilot concert, “Bach and the Venetians,” which earned praise from the Chicago Classical Review for its promising start and strong attendance. Building on that momentum, the group has committed to an expanded three-concert season.
Tickets go on sale July 15 and are available at bachinthecity.org or by phone at 312-273-9834. ■
Bach in the City’s 2025-26 Concert Series
- October 3, 2025 @ 7:30 p.m.
St. Vincent de Paul Church, 1010 W. Webster Ave., Chicago, IL
Music in Heaven’s Castle
Marco Rivera Rosa, Emily Nebel, Jason Moy, Richard Webster, Jacob Reed
Works by Telemann, Bach, Muffat - January 11, 2026 @ 3 p.m.
Allen Recital Hall, DePaul University, 2330 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL
Bach’s Musical World
Taya König-Tarasevich, Amelia Sie, Anna Steinhoff, Ana Kim, Jason Moy
Works by Telemann, Buxtehude, Bach, Handel - March 20, 2026 @ 7:30 p.m.
St. Vincent de Paul Church, 1010 W. Webster Ave., Chicago, IL
Bach: St. Mark Passion (Chicago premiere)
Hannah De Priest, Ryan Belongie, Oliver Camacho, David McFerrin, and the Bach in the City Chorus
Johann Sebastian BACH: St. Mark Passion, BWV 247 (reconstructed by Malcolm Bruno and Richard Webster) (Chicago premiere)
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Bach in the City: bachinthecity.org
Read more by EarRelevant Staff.
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