The Baldwin Wallace 2025 Bach Festival
Schedule of Events
11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. - Master Class - Kadel Family Vocal Music Hall, Boesel Musical Arts Center Featuring Clara Osowski, soprano.
12:45-1:15 p.m. - Interlude: "Soli Deo Gloria" - Lobby, Boesel Musical Arts Center
1:30 p.m. - "Preluding…" - Gamble Auditorium, Kulas Musical Arts Building
The Baldwin Wallace Organ Studio presents "Preluding...," a program that takes inspiration from J.S. Bach's time as organist at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
In this special Bach Festival performance, students of the Organ Studio invite you to experience Bach's rich tradition of "preluding" and improvisation during worship services, offering their own interpretations and explorations of Bach's music.
2 p.m. - BachSings - Gamble Auditorium, Kulas Musical Arts Building
Over 60 high school students and teachers from across Northeast Ohio will gather for a concert featuring the works of Handel and Bach. These young and aspiring musicians will join our BW artists, BWV: Cleveland's Bach Choir and the Baldwin Wallace University Motet Choir.
Under the direction of Dr. Jami Lercher and Artistic Director Dirk Garner, this inspired afternoon of choral music brings high school students to the Bach Festival for the inaugural BachSings Festival.
3:30-4:45 p.m. - Lecture - Kadel Family Vocal Music Hall, Boesel Musical Arts Center
Jonathan Rhodes Lee, lecturer
This lecture situates "Messiah" both within Handel's output of the 1740s and within the social situation of that time, and it meditates on why this oratorio has become such a broadly beloved work.
6:15 p.m. - Festival Brass - Marting Hall Lawn & Tower
This annual tradition is a crowd favorite. BW Brass students play the music of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries from the iconic Marting Tower.
7 p.m. - Handel's "Messiah" ($) - Gamble Auditorium, Kulas Musical Arts Building
George Frideric Handel's "Messiah" is perhaps the most often performed piece of classical music. Its famous "Hallelujah" chorus even rolls off the tongues of children. It is a work of healing and comfort.
We are thrilled to present this infamous Baroque work for the first time at the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival. The music is celebratory, passionate and profound, worthy of its place alongside Bach.
Additional Dates:
