Chattanooga Bach Choir Cantata Concert

The Chattanooga Bach Choir, conducted by artistic director David Long, continues its Barnett & Company Cantata Series on Sunday, May 21 at 4:00 p.m. at Christ Church Episcopal (663 Douglas Street, Chattanooga). There is a suggested donation of $15 at the door; students are free. For more information, visit www.chattanoogabachchoir.org.

The program features music by J.S. Bach for choir and solo instruments, including Cantata BWV 86 Wahrlich, Wahrlich Ich Sage Euch (Truly, truly, I say to you); Suite No. 4 in E-flat major for solo cello, BWV 1010; and Organ Prelude BWV 658 Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (I will not forsake the Lord). Joining the Bach Choir are guest soloists: alto Rachel Walls, tenor Mark Laseter, bass Zachary James Cavan; along with cellist Isaiah Pennington; and organist Karla Fowkes.

David Long notes: “On the last Barnett & Co. Cantata Series of the 2016-17 season, the Bach Choir will be joined by four outstanding local artists, all at the early stages of their professional careers. Rachael Walls, a graduate of Lee University, is an alto with outstanding coloratura (very useful for cantata 86). Mark Laseter, a Signal Mountain native and a graduate of Westminster Choir College, sings with the professional chorus “Seraphic Fire” and will be a choral scholar at a cathedral in Great Britain next season. Zachary J Cavan, a native of Ringgold who holds music degrees from UT-Chattanooga and the University of Louisville, is becoming recognized as an outstanding bass and has been a frequent soloist on the Barnett & Co. Cantata Series. Isaiah Pennington, a senior at Southern Methodist University, will perform one of Bach’s famous unaccompanied cello suites. Completing the program, Bach Choir Organist and Christ Church Organist/Choirmaster Karla Fowkes will play one of Bach’s most ornate chorale preludes on the church’s renowned Richards and Fowkes tracker organ.”

He continues, “Bach wrote Cantata BWV 86 during his first year in Leipzig (May 14, 1724) for the fifth Sunday after Easter and before the Rogation days of prayer. The gospel reading of that day comes from John 16:23-30 (‘If you ask something of the Father in my Name, He will grant it to you’), and Bach’s librettist takes the reading as an opportunity for exploring the question of how these words of Jesus relate with the believer’s life experience.”

David Long will present a 10-15 minute introduction to the cantata, with musical examples, before the performance of the work. There will be a reception for the audience and performers following the concert.