Boston Baroque

Haydn’s The Seasons | Professional Ensemble

This performance marks the inaugural concert welcoming Marc Minkowski as Boston Baroque's newly appointed Music Director, a one-day-only celebration of an exciting new chapter, made possible by the extraordinary 52-year legacy of our founder, Martin Pearlman.

Following the great success of The Creation, Haydn poured his compositional powers into tracing the annual cycle of rural toils and rustic delights, from the tentative thaw of spring through summer's heat and autumn's harvest, to the cold inevitability of winter. The Seasons, composed between 1799 and 1801, brims with exceptional verve, energy, and warmth. From thunderstorms and bird calls to hunting scenes and harvest dances, its vivid musical storytelling sweeps through the turning year with humor, tenderness, and moments of breathtaking beauty. The final return to winter carries a deeper resonance, a human birth-to-old-age reflection that gives this seemingly pastoral work an emotional depth. 

The libretto, adapted by Baron Gottfried van Swieten from James Thomson's celebrated English poem, was fashioned so the work could be performed in either German or English. Boston Baroque’s performance will take place in German. 

Marc Minkowski, conductor

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists

       Passion for the Planet (Geoffrey Hudson) | Professional Ensemble

Geoffrey Hudson’s A Passion for the Planet is an hour-long oratorio on the subject of climate change. Blending scientific prose, poetry, and sacred texts from many faiths, the libretto traces an arc from beauty and gratitude into darkness and out again into hope.

A Passion for the Planet is scored for chorus of mixed voices, children’s chorus, soprano and baritone soloists, and instrumental ensemble (12 players). There are eleven movements; in the finale, performers and audience members join together to sing a simple chorale tune.

Chris Shepard, conductor

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists

Passion for the Planet (Geoffrey Hudson) | Professional Ensemble

Geoffrey Hudson’s A Passion for the Planet is an hour-long oratorio on the subject of climate change. Blending scientific prose, poetry, and sacred texts from many faiths, the libretto traces an arc from beauty and gratitude into darkness and out again into hope.

A Passion for the Planet is scored for chorus of mixed voices, children’s chorus, soprano and baritone soloists, and instrumental ensemble (12 players). There are eleven movements; in the finale, performers and audience members join together to sing a simple chorale tune.

Chris Shepard, conductor

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists

Passion for the Planet (Geoffrey Hudson) | Professional Ensemble

Geoffrey Hudson’s A Passion for the Planet is an hour-long oratorio on the subject of climate change. Blending scientific prose, poetry, and sacred texts from many faiths, the libretto traces an arc from beauty and gratitude into darkness and out again into hope.

A Passion for the Planet is scored for chorus of mixed voices, children’s chorus, soprano and baritone soloists, and instrumental ensemble (12 players). There are eleven movements; in the finale, performers and audience members join together to sing a simple chorale tune.

Chris Shepard, conductor

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists

Passion for the Planet (Geoffrey Hudson) | Professional Ensemble

Geoffrey Hudson’s A Passion for the Planet is an hour-long oratorio on the subject of climate change. Blending scientific prose, poetry, and sacred texts from many faiths, the libretto traces an arc from beauty and gratitude into darkness and out again into hope.

A Passion for the Planet is scored for chorus of mixed voices, children’s chorus, soprano and baritone soloists, and instrumental ensemble (12 players). There are eleven movements; in the finale, performers and audience members join together to sing a simple chorale tune.

Chris Shepard, conductor

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists | Alto Soloist & Professional Ensemble

CONCORA performs three of Bach’s choral cantatas as part of the third annual BACHtoberfest Weekend: Wer da gläubet und getauft wird, Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind, and Der Herr denket an uns. Enjoy the opportunity to hear Chris Shepard’s professional choral ensemble that’s praised as one of New England’s “premier musical forces”; CONCORA regularly performs Bach’s cantatas as well as other praised vocal works, and are an annual staple at BACHtoberfest Weekend. 

Program 

*J.S. Bach – Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend warden (BWV 6)
J.S. Bach – Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot (BWV39)
J.S. Bach – Herr, wie du willt, so schick’s mit mir (BWV73)

Chris Shepard, conductor

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists | Alto Soloist & Professional Ensemble

CONCORA performs three of Bach’s choral cantatas as part of the third annual BACHtoberfest Weekend: Wer da gläubet und getauft wird, Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind, and Der Herr denket an uns. Enjoy the opportunity to hear Chris Shepard’s professional choral ensemble that’s praised as one of New England’s “premier musical forces”; CONCORA regularly performs Bach’s cantatas as well as other praised vocal works, and are an annual staple at BACHtoberfest Weekend. 

Program 

*J.S. Bach – Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend warden (BWV 6)
J.S. Bach – Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot (BWV39)
J.S. Bach – Herr, wie du willt, so schick’s mit mir (BWV73)

Chris Shepard, conductor

BACHtoberfest: BVW 79 | Alto Soloist

BACHtoberfest Choir and The Hartford Chorale

Individual singers from across the region and country, plus members of the Hartford Chorale gather in Worcester for the third-annual choir performance to conclude the 2026 BACHtoberfest Weekend. The BACHtoberfest Choir assembles for this concert annually, rehearsing a series of J.S. Bach’s cantatas together over the course of the weekend prior to the culminating concert on Sunday afternoon. 

This ensemble aims to unite voices from everywhere in song, with a shared passion for the music of J.S. Bach.

Program

Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1

*Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, BWV 79

Nun danket alle Gott, BWV 192

Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18

Chris Shepard & Jack Pott, conductors

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists | Alto Soloist & Professional Ensemble

CONCORA performs three of Bach’s choral cantatas as part of the third annual BACHtoberfest Weekend: Wer da gläubet und getauft wird, Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind, and Der Herr denket an uns. Enjoy the opportunity to hear Chris Shepard’s professional choral ensemble that’s praised as one of New England’s “premier musical forces”; CONCORA regularly performs Bach’s cantatas as well as other praised vocal works, and are an annual staple at BACHtoberfest Weekend. 

Program 

*J.S. Bach – Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend warden (BWV 6)
J.S. Bach – Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot (BWV39)
J.S. Bach – Herr, wie du willt, so schick’s mit mir (BWV73)

Chris Shepard, conductor

BACHtoberfest: BVW 79 | Alto Soloist

BACHtoberfest Choir and The Hartford Chorale

Individual singers from across the region and country, plus members of the Hartford Chorale gather in Worcester for the third-annual choir performance to conclude the 2026 BACHtoberfest Weekend. The BACHtoberfest Choir assembles for this concert annually, rehearsing a series of J.S. Bach’s cantatas together over the course of the weekend prior to the culminating concert on Sunday afternoon. 

This ensemble aims to unite voices from everywhere in song, with a shared passion for the music of J.S. Bach.

Program

Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1

*Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, BWV 79

Nun danket alle Gott, BWV 192

Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18

Chris Shepard & Jack Pott, conductors

Mozart Requiem | Alto Soloist

A colloboration between Solisti, the Chamber Orchestra from Hall and Conard Schools in West Hartford, and Choraliers, Solo Choir.

Emmett Drake, conductor

Mozart Requiem | Alto Soloist

A colloboration between Solisti, the Chamber Orchestra from Hall and Conard Schools in West Hartford, and Choraliers, Solo Choir.

Emmett Drake, conductor

Upper Valley Baroque Chorus & Orchestra

       Professional Ensemble

        Join UVB for a new holiday tradition! Our masterful chamber chorus will fill three lovely venues with the festive and angelic sounds of the season. Hear early Baroque gems alongside familiar audience favorites that will send you out singing.

   Filippo Ciabatti, conductor

Upper Valley Baroque Chorus & Orchestra

       Professional Ensemble

        Join UVB for a new holiday tradition! Our masterful chamber chorus will fill three lovely venues with the festive and angelic sounds of the season. Hear early Baroque gems alongside familiar audience favorites that will send you out singing.

   Filippo Ciabatti, conductor

Upper Valley Baroque Chorus & Orchestra

       Professional Ensemble

        Join UVB for a new holiday tradition! Our masterful chamber chorus will fill three lovely venues with the festive and angelic sounds of the season. Hear early Baroque gems alongside familiar audience favorites that will send you out singing.

   Filippo Ciabatti, conductor

Upper Valley Baroque Chorus & Orchestra

       Professional Ensemble

        Join UVB for a new holiday tradition! Our masterful chamber chorus will fill three lovely venues with the festive and angelic sounds of the season. Hear early Baroque gems alongside familiar audience favorites that will send you out singing.

   Filippo Ciabatti, conductor

Yale Choral Artists and Bang on a Can Ensemble

       before and after nature - David Lang | Professional Ensemble

Program note by David Lang:

before and after nature is a piece about our relationship to our surroundings, natural and otherwise. It is a piece that investigates its own environment, which means how it looks and feels in performance will dramatically affect its impact. A successful performance should take into account what the performance will look like, how the performers are placed in relation to the space and to each other, and how whatever added visual or theatrical elements enhance the overall experience.

I intentionally made the piece so the music and performance could be visualized, specifically as a proposition to the artist and designer Tal Rosner, whose projection work I have long admired. I sent Tal each movement as I completed it, along with prompts about what had motivated it. The motivations are different for each movement—descriptions of the time before the creation of the universe, according to over 50 different creation myths; the conflation of seeing a mountain and seeing god; the physicalization of a shaft of sunlight, etc. Tal took each of these motivations as a different starting point, making something abstract but consciously related to each move- ment, in a way that not only flows in harmony with the music but is also spectacular to watch.

I can easily imagine how Tal or other designers in the future might push the relationship be- tween music and visuals even farther, making a performance that is even more environmental and immersive.

   Jeffrey Douma, conductor

Yale Choral Artists and Bang on a Can Ensemble

       before and after nature - David Lang | Professional Ensemble

Program note by David Lang:

before and after nature is a piece about our relationship to our surroundings, natural and otherwise. It is a piece that investigates its own environment, which means how it looks and feels in performance will dramatically affect its impact. A successful performance should take into account what the performance will look like, how the performers are placed in relation to the space and to each other, and how whatever added visual or theatrical elements enhance the overall experience.

I intentionally made the piece so the music and performance could be visualized, specifically as a proposition to the artist and designer Tal Rosner, whose projection work I have long admired. I sent Tal each movement as I completed it, along with prompts about what had motivated it. The motivations are different for each movement—descriptions of the time before the creation of the universe, according to over 50 different creation myths; the conflation of seeing a mountain and seeing god; the physicalization of a shaft of sunlight, etc. Tal took each of these motivations as a different starting point, making something abstract but consciously related to each move- ment, in a way that not only flows in harmony with the music but is also spectacular to watch.

I can easily imagine how Tal or other designers in the future might push the relationship be- tween music and visuals even farther, making a performance that is even more environmental and immersive.

   Jeffrey Douma, conductor

Worcester Chorus

        The Worcester Chorus, led by guest conductor María Guinand, performs one of Bach’s two surviving Passions – St. Matthew Passion – on the 300th anniversary of its April 11, 1727 premiere.

Guest conductor María Guinand is an internationally sought-after choral conductor from Caracas, Venezuela. Her extensive resume includes serving as the artistic director of the Schola Cantorum of Venezuela.

This sacred oratorio is one of the living masterpieces of the Baroque period and survives today because of its history; its scoring; and its size. 

Maria Guinand, conductor

Concora, Connecticut Choral Artists & Baroklyn | Alto Soloist

Cantata 182 Himmelskönig, sei willkommen

“Leget euch dem Heiland unter” (Aria)

Cantata 4 Christ lag in Todesbanden

“Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt” (Aria Duetto)

   Simone Dinnerstein, conductor

Yale Choral Artists 

       Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot | Professional Ensemble

        About the work by Joby Talbot:

Path of Miracles is a musical pilgrimage that has been three and a half years in the making. After Gabriel Crouch had told me of his and Nigel Short's ideas for a new piece about the mediaeval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, I was taken to a Tenebrae recording session at the Temple Church, where I was utterly bowled over by the sheer beauty of the sound of this unique choir. A trip to northern Spain with my wife Claire and one-year-old son Maurice followed, and over ten magical days (and one distinctly unmagical car crash) we visited many of the important points of the Camino, including four of its greatest churches: the abbey at Roncesvalles in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and the great cathedrals of Burgos, Leon and Santiago itself. The impressions these places left on me became the basis for the musical structure of the work.

Back in England I managed, with the help of The Poetry Society, to track down Robert Dickinson, whose poem 'Proofs' about mediaeval French saints I'd read some five years previously. He seemed to me the ideal man for the job and so it proved, as he constructed a libretto of inspired reflections on the pilgrimage juxtaposed with extant mediaeval texts. In sourcing the latter, Professor Jack Sage of King's College, London was an invaluable help.

Path of Miracles is dedicated to the memory of my father, Vincent Talbot, 1916-2005.

   Jeffrey Douma, conductor