Bach Festivals & Cantata Series: St Johns Southgate: Bach Cantata Service

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Bach Festivals & Cantata Series St Johns Southgate: Bach Cantata Service
Name:	Bach Cantata Services
Location:	Melbourne, Australia
Venues:	St Johns Southgate - 20 City Road, Southbank
Years:	Since November 1997
Months:	February-November, although there are occasionally December and January events
Artistic Director:	Dr. Graham Lieschke
Ensembles:	St Johns Bach Choir St Johns Bach Orchestra (Baroque instrument orchestra) Occasionally/also: VCA Bach Orchestra (1998-2009) La Compañia (2008- ) Australian Chamber Choir (2007- ) Early Music Studio Baroque Ensemble and Early Voices (Faculty of the VCA and Music, University of Melbourne) (2010- )
Website:	St Johns Southgate: Bach Cantata Service
History & Mission:	The series is coordinated by the Director of Music, Dr. Graham Lieschke. The cantatas are presented in regular worship services at St Johns, mostly Sunday morning Eucharists. The services include traditional Lutheran liturgy, congregational chorales, and organ music on the 1992 Smenge pipe organ. Approximately 8 Bach Cantata Services are presented per year. From 1998-2009, 3 works per year were presented in collaboration with the Victorian College of the Arts. Other occasional collaborations include the groups listed above. As of November 2011, there have been 110 events which have encompassed the liturgical presention of 92 different cantatas and also the motets, the B Minor Mass (BWV 232), the Magnificat (BWV 243), several small Latin masses, the St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), the Christmas (BWV 248), Easter (BWV 249) and Ascension (BWV 11) oratorios, and some repeated works. An objective is eventually to have presented the entire Bach choral repertoire within a Lutheran liturgical context. In support of the Bach program, St Johns runs several other projects. Visiting Music Directors have been: 2000 - Thomas Schmidt, New York, USA; 2006 - Georg Christoph Biller, Leipzig, Germany; 2010 - Albrecht Koch, Freiberg, Germany). An occasional Organ Scholar and/or Bach Scholar Program is run. St Johns' collection of instruments includes a 1996 Smenge chamber organ, a pair of oboes da caccia (Sand Dalton, USA), and a pair of baroque timpani (Lefima, Germany). The St Johns Southgate Bach Foundation Inc. was formed in 2011 to enhance opportunities for donors to directly support the program.
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