The Bach Society of Dayton’s performing venue is the Kettering Adventist Church at 3939 Stonebridge Road in Kettering, Ohio.The church has excellent acoustics and a magnificent Casavant organ. It is an ideal venue for both small a capella works and major works with full orchestra. It is fully handicap-accessible. (For directions click here)

All Bach Society of Dayton concerts are recorded for playback on "Live and Local" on WDPR (88.1 FM) and WDPG (89.9 FM) and online at dpr.org. Click here for the schedule.
Listen to sample piece.

2012-2013 Repertory

Sing and Celebrate! on Sunday, October 21, 4:00 p.m.
Great choral music has been creating a sensation for centuries! The opening concert of the season features some of the pieces our audience and chorus identified as their favorites. This includes the magnificent Plaudite by Giovanni Gabrieli, who was all the rage in Venice at the turn of the 16th century, as well as works by current choral “rock star” Eric Whitacre, creator of the worldwide virtual choir. The centerpiece of the concert is a work based on ancient psalm texts by 20th century American composer Norman Dello Joio, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music. The concert also features a commissioned arrangement by Steven Winteregg of Elgar’s Imperial March for brass and organ.

Audience favorites including
Plaudite, In Ecclesiis, and music for brass by Giovanni Gabrieli
Sicut Cervus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Lift Thine Eyes  and  He Watching Over Israel  (from Elijah) by Felix Mendelssohn
The Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre
A Psalm of David by Norman Dello Joio

Bach Society Chorus, The Oakwood Brass

Concert Preview: 3:00 p.m.
Richard Chenoweth, Professor of Horn and Graul Chair in the Arts and Humanities at the University of Dayton and former Principal Horn of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sweet Sounds of the Holidays on Sunday, December 2, 7:30 p.m.
Join us for a Dayton holiday tradition with a new twist – the premiere of a work by Howard Helvey commissioned by the Bach Society. Mr. Helvey is an award-winning choral composer and the organist and choirmaster of historic Calvary Episcopal Church in Cincinnati. His new a cappella work for the Bach Society is based on the centuries-old Christmas worship text, O Magnum Mysterium (Oh Great Mystery). The concert features beloved songs of Christmas and Hanukkah, with something for all ages to enjoy, including the ever-popular audience sing-along.

Bach Society Chorus
Kettering Children’s Choir Chorale, Bruce Swank, Director
Kettering Advent Ringers, Joan Ulloth Dorgan, Director

St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach, Sunday, March 10, 4:00 p.m.
J.S. Bach’s moving portrayal of Christ’s last days is told through the words of the Gospel of St. Matthew and heart-wrenchingly beautiful music. Considered one of the greatest works in western classical music, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was composed for double chorus, children’s choir, soloists, and double orchestra for a surround-sound musical experience. The work is believed to have been first performed on Good Friday 1727 at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany, where Bach was music director.

Bach Society Chorus with Orchestra Kettering Children's Choir
John Wesley Wright, Tenor, as the Evangelist Mark Spencer, Baritone, as Jesus
Maura Cock, Soprano Steven Rickards, Countertenor
Jeremy Winston, Tenor William McGraw, Bass

Concert Preview: 3:00 p.m.
With Neal Gittleman, Music Director, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

Bach to the Future, Sunday, May 5, 3:00 p.m. (note special start time)
The Bach Society ends the season with a joyful tribute to Bach, Mozart, and Telemann, and a salute to the future with works by Morten Lauridsen and other contemporary composers. Soprano Andrea Chenoweth will be featured on Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with its exuberant Alleluia. Former Bach Society singers will join the current chorus to perform the Bach motet. Plan to stay after the concert for a very special birthday celebration.

Psalm 117 by Georg Philipp Telemann
Motet 1: Singet dem Herrn, ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a New Song) by Johann Sebastian Bach
Laudate Dominum; Missa Brevis in F; Exsultate, jubilate by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
O Nata Lux by Morten Lauridsen

Bach Society Chorus with Orchestra
Andrea Chenoweth, Soprano

Concert Preview: 2:00 p.m. 
With Andrea Chenoweth, Soprano, and Sharon Davis Gratto, Chair of the Department of Music, University of Dayton

Funding and support for this season are graciously provided by The Miriam Rosenthal Memorial Trust Fund as season sponsor and Classical 88.1 as media sponsor; and by Culture Works, The Ohio Arts Council, The Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, The Dayton Foundation, The Marianists of the University of Dayton, The Charles F. Kettering Memorial Hospital, The Mary H. Kittredge Fund of the Dayton Foundation, Huntington Bank, Houser Asphalt & Concrete, the Children's Medical Center of Dayton, Charles D. Berry, and many other generous donors and sponsors. We thank them all!