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The Denton Bach Society (DBS) is a non-profit musical organization based in Denton, Texas, that has served the North Texas community with choral and instrumental music since 1976. The Denton Bach Choir was founded by Dr. Hildegard Froehlich, who was it first director. Celebrating its 50th anniversary season in 2025-2026, the ensemble focuses on performing classical music - particularly works by J.S. Bach - with passion and precision.
The Denton Bach Society exists to provide an opportunity for dedicated and musically trained singers (the Denton Bach Choir) to bring the highest quality choral and instrumental music, particularly of the baroque period, to audiences in Denton, Texas, and the greater North Texas Community. The mission of the ensemble is to celebrate, perform, and promote music that has "survived the test of time".
The society performs a mix of choral and instrumental works, including major cantatas and masterworks. Regular concerts are held, such as the "Cantata Extravaganza!" at the First Presbyterian Church of Denton. Rehearsals are typically held on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 PM at the First Presbyterian Church of Denton.
The DBS is a prominent community organization that serves the Denton and Dallas-Fort Worth area, often hosting special events like the "BachFest" fundraiser. |
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From the Denton Bach Society's inception, the choir, with its conductors, has been the backbone of the organization. Other persons clearly have been essential--instrumentalists, soloists, officers, donors - but it has been the singers who have been the organization's mainstay.
The choir has been featured in virtually all of the Denton Bach Society's regular season concerts. In 1992, the Board of Directors voted to "distinguish the choral component from the Society as a whole by giving the chorus its own name: 'the Denton Bach Choir'." Thereafter it was accorded separate billing in program notes.
Singing at or near a professional level at concert is the choir members' chief contribution. The choir sings "new" pieces at nearly every performance of every season, and in preparation the members are expected to spend virtually all of their late Sunday afternoons, from September to May, in rehearsals. They must attend additional rehearsals prior to a concert, including the dress rehearsal, at which time the instrumentalists join the group. Unlike the instrumentalists, the choristers work without compensation.
The choir members have also performed various tasks for the organization, and have done much of the behind-the-scenes- work. They have served as stage-hands, setting up risers and moving instruments, chairs, and music stands. They have written, edited, and mailed the organization's newsletter; solicited advertising from businesses; distributed posters in churches and other community focal points announcing their programs.
Many have done heavy duty in the Society's organizational structure, having served on the Board of Directors and as officers. Indeed, until recent changes were effected in the bylaws, it was mandated that board members and officers be "performers."
Withal, the choir members have contributed financially, in a variety of ways. Singers pay for their own copy of the music performed. They provide their own transportation to out-of-town concerts. And a substantial number of them have made financial pledges to the Society.
Then there has been the Bachfest, an annual event which was the Society's primary fund-raising enterprise until 1993. For twelve years, the Denton Bach Society brought this event of feasting, fun, and frolic to the Denton community in October. Not surprisingly, it was the choir members who were called upon to supply the bulk of the manpower.
Who are these people, who have given so generously of their time and talents, many of them for years on end--and who have produced such wonderful music?
Choir membership is open to the public. Word-of-mouth has always been an important recruiting device, and every year a call is sounded by the organization for additional volunteers to sing in the choir. Auditions are sometimes held, where singers are invited to "sing an aria or song of their own choosing," but "extensive musical or vocal training" is not required. "If you can read music, you are welcome in the Bach Society Chorus!" says one recent invitation.
A substantial number of the members have professional training or background, but the majority, according to Director Henry Gibbons, "are in fact amateurs in the best sense of the word, persons of many different backgrounds using their natural ability and uniting through their love of music" (Vivace!, Vol. XIV, No. 1).
There are some self-selecting factors, however. The type of music that the Bach Choir sings is complex, somewhat more demanding than much church choral music to which many singers are accustomed. Mastering it involves hard work and a serious commitment to excellence. Moreover, the music of Bach, like many other great works of art, is somewhat of an acquired taste; not many people have sufficient exposure to it to develop the special appreciation which singing in a Bach choir involves.
Hence the Denton Bach Choir has never been very large. The average size of the choir over the years has been thirty-two, and there has been some waxing and waning by season. At times, choir size has dipped below twenty, and it has risen above forty. |
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Esther Andrews
Ruth Bryan
Peggy Capps
Theresa Carriveau
Chera Cole
Karen Cole
Riki Darding
Angela Farris
Delini Fernando
Kathryn Jensen
Diana Johnson
Victoria Falkner Jones
Emma Kenney
Carol Kernek
Vickie Jones
Becky King
Heidi Dietrich Klein
Eleanore Melanson
Tina Narithookil
Rebecca Nunez
Jennifer Pierce
Dianne Randolph
Jennifer Roglá
Courtney Seale
Jessica Van Gee
Linda Wallace
Marsha Williams |
Krystal Bonoan
Alyssa Briery
Ramona Cerretti
Hildegard Froehlich
Barbara Huggins
Meghan Kajihara
Charline Keaton
Laureen Montgomery
Pat Peters
Rhianon Price
Hildegard F. Rainbow
Paula Robertson
Pat Schanz
Kathy Sims
Sue Smith
Betty Tomboulian
Linda Wallace
Shirlene Watkins |
John Andrews
Tony Clark
Richard Edyvean
Jonathan Gibbons
Billy Ham
Jerry Haughton
Steve McHargue
Javier Moreno
Jeff Peters
Harry C. Phillips
Kevin Sutton
Diego Valdez
Christopher Walker |
Andrew Diaz
Daniel Farris
Jason Galbraith
John Hedric
David A. Johnson
Julian Long
David K. Pierce
Kenneth Sewell
John Todd
Lee Tomboulian
Fred Watkins |
