A word from Richard Webster, Music Director, Bach in the City
Welcome to Bach in the City, a new musical entity on Chicago's cultural scene that has suddenly and unexpectedly sprung to life. What is it and where? Why, how, and with whom has it arisen? When will the music begin?
What is it and where?
Bach in the City is the successor to the beloved Bach Week Festival, based in Evanston. Our mission is to present the choral, instrumental and chamber music of Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers whose music will come to life in the magnificent acoustical, visual and historic setting of St. Vincent DePaul Church in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Why and how?
Just last May, Bach Week Festival celebrated its 51st and final season in a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor at St. Luke's Church in Evanston, where the festival was founded in 1974. At the post-concert party, several musicians and loyal audience members approached me, as the festival's director, fervently insisting that our music making should continue somehow. Being a passionate advocate for the music of Bach and his contemporaries, this was not a hard sell. I let them know that, for us to carry on, we would need new leaders, workers, supporters, and an expanded audience outreach, along with a fresh way of bringing this music to Chicagoland. Almost immediately, an eager, creative group of new board members and patrons stepped up to meet the challenge.
With whom has it arisen?
In July I made a phone call to my longtime friend and colleague Robert "Bob" Beatty, Director of Music at St. Vincent's, asking if the church would be willing to consider hosting a "Bach Week type organization." His immediate and enthusiastic response was "ABSOLUTELY!" Now we had a new home AND a new name. The staff and people at St. Vincent's have given us an extraordinary welcome. Bob will elaborate further in his letter to follow.
When will the music begin? -- Bach and Gabrieli
We will launch Bach in the City with a festive Bach Birthday Concert on Friday, March 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM (tickets will be available in January). The concert will feature the newly formed Bach in the City Chorus of professional and semi-professional singers, alongside the Gaudete Brass, whose forces will be augmented especially for the occasion. On the program will be two Bach motets: Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227; and O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, BWV 118. Rounding out the fare will be the music of Giovanni Gabrieli, featuring chorus, instruments and organ placed throughout the church in the venerable polychoral tradition, made famous at St. Mark's Cathedral in 16th/17th century Venice.
This initial musical offering will serve as a pilot project to gauge public and donor interest in our new venture. We'll then see what 2025-26 might bring for Bach in the City.
Richard Webster, Music Director of Bach in the City, was also Bach Week Festival's Music Director since 1975. He is Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, where Bach Week made its home for the first three of its five decades. He moved to Boston in 2005 and became Director of Music at Trinity Church, Copley Square, retiring in 2022. Active as a composer, organist and choral director/clinician, Richard joined the faculty of Yale University as a Lecturer in the Institute of Sacred Music as of September.
Welcome to St. Vincent from Robert Beatty
Dear Friends,
Welcome to St. Vincent de Paul Parish! It is a pleasure and an honor to embrace Bach in the City as a newly established extension of our parish family. We recognize that Bach in the City is built on a foundation of excellence of the highest standard in singing God’s praise.
Our patron and founder—St. Vincent de Paul—famously devoted his life to serving the poor. St. Vincent de Paul Parish follows this tradition with an ardent awareness that it is not enough to feed the poor by simply handing out bread. We must also set the table. Together, we set the table for each other through environment and art, and our liturgy and music. Our desire is for everyone who encounters St. Vincent to go away nourished in mind, body, and soul.
Next year will mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Congregation of the Mission—the Vincentians—to carry out the mission of St. Vincent de Paul. We will also commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of our Parish here in Chicago. From one generation to the next, fine music-making has been and continues to be an integral part of our parish tradition.
As we continue our mission in the spirit of St. Vincent, we welcome you, our new friends to our table. May all who visit us through Bach in the City find refreshment, nourishment, and friendship here. Thank you for enhancing our gift of music in community and service to each other.
Sincerely,
Robert M. Beatty, PhD, Organist and Director of Music St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Chicago