Author: Margaret Steinitz

UPDATE: AUTUMN BACHFEST and 7th BACH SINGERS PRIZE

Dates: 31 October – 22 November 2024

All events are being finalised and will be announced shortly, so in the meantime we invite you to watch this space. Click here for biographies of past Bach Singers Prize winners.

Bach Singers Prize 2024

Dates: Thursday 7 November = 1st Round, Friday 15 November = Semi Final, Tuesday 19 November = The Final. All three Rounds take place in London and form part of the LBS Bachfest 2024.

Application Forms and Prize Details: Each entrant has to complete an application and repertoire form that will include a short statement as to how they would spend the Prize money should they win. These forms will be posted here shortly. Deadline for the receipt of completed applications: Monday 21 October 2024. The competition is open to postgraduate singers in the age range 21 to 34 years at the date of The Final. There are three Rounds – First Round, Semi Final and Final. The Semi and Final are held in public.

The finalists will each perform their 20 minute all-Bach programme with Steinitz Bach Players who use period instruments at A=415.

Final details are being planned, but if in the meantime you would like your details to go onto our 2024 Prize Enquiry List we can then keep you informed. To do so Email us at: lbs@lonbachsoc.co.uk.

The Bach Singers Prize is being given in memory of the distinguished baritone Stephen Roberts, who passed away in December 2022.

VACANCIES: NEW TRUSTEES INVITED

Like to be a Trustee? We have some exciting plans. London Bach Society (LBS) is a professional organisation, professionally run and promoted, and a charitable company. We maintain a slimline administration and have a Council of Trustees (Directors of the Company and Trustees of the charity) who are responsible for safeguarding the organisation, and fostering the development of the Society and its charitable purpose.

The Council is also responsible for ensuring the Society is compliant with the filing requirements of a charitable company (Annual Financial Statements filed with Companies House and Charity Commission). The artistic plans and programming are curated by the Artistic Director, who is also responsible for the day to day business. Trustee meetings take place 3 times per year on average either via zoom or in London.

We should like to recruit up to 3 trustees to add to our team and who can support our developing activities. Credentials and experience are of importance. If you are interested then please email us on lbs@lonbachsoc.co.uk attaching a CV and the names of two referees and we shall be in touch. Margaret Steinitz, Artistic Director

Updated 25 July 2024

FRIDAY 3 NOVEMBER 2023 at 7.00pm

LEIPZIG 300th

Rediscovering Bach

Friday 3 November 2023 at 7.00pm in the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew- the- Great. West Smithfield, London EC1 (nearest tubes Barbican or St. Paul’s)

Steinitz Bach Players director Rodolfo Richter, solo violin. Violins Anna Curzon, Dominika Feher, Viola Lisa Cochrane, ‘cello Catherine Rimer, bass Zaynab Martin, Oboe & Oboe d’amore Geoff Coates, Oboe Bethan White Trumpet Paul Sharp Harpsichord & Organ Chris Bucknall

Aine Smith soprano, Tom Lilburn counter tenor, Jack Granby tenor, Joseph Edwards bass. Associate Artists and Alumni of Tenebrae’s celebrated young artists’ programme

This is the LBS’s first public Bach concert for three years, having paused while Covid-19 took over our lives. Our films are still available via Vimeo. Click here

Now we are back and in the glorious setting of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, West Smithfield too where so many LBS Bach projects were begun. It is the church’s 900th anniversary this year (1123-2023) and London’s oldest church. Come and immerse yourself in the music we think we know well….but there is more.

Bach’s appointment as Leipzig Cantor in 1723 marked the beginning of a remarkable musical outpouring – his yearly cycles of church cantatas (1723-1728). The cycles began on the 1st Sunday after Trinity and ended on Trinity Sunday itself. We mark the 300th anniversary of this appointment with a programme that includes the first cantata in Cycle I that flowed from his pen – BWV 75 “Die Elenden sollen essen” (The poor shall eat) performed on 30 May 1723 at Leipzig. Click here to listen to this lovely creation. What must the Leipzigers have thought of it.

The programme includes

Sinfonia from Cantata BWV 21

Cantata “Die Elenden sollen essen” BWV 75 (part 1)

Concerto for violin and oboe BWV 1060

Cantata “Die Elenden sollen essen” BWV 75 (part 2)

Click here to listen to Cantata BWV 75.

This concert has now taken place.