The new year starts with a brassy glow – the Bach Winchester Voices, directed by Andrew Hayman, bring three Bach cantatas with horns in the orchestra. In the texts we slay the serpent, honour God as our sun and shield, and celebrate New Year’s Day – all with an impressive line-up of soloists and a professional period band. While the horn players catch their breath, the choir sings the moving motet Der Gerechte, and the orchestra reinterprets the famous Air on the G String. The concert is in support of Gift of Sight.

The Bach Winchester Voices make their Stockbridge Music debut with an exciting Christmas programme of music by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Bach Winchester Voices, directed by Andrew Hayman, team up with four outstanding soloists and a professional period band to perform three glorious cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach. To add a golden glow and a deep exciting rumble to the singers’ joyful voices, all cantatas feature triumphant trumpets and tittilating timpani. Join us for a jubilant and festive afternoon!

Bach’s St John Passion paints a vivid musical picture of the days surrounding Christ‘s crucifixion. It conveys the testimony of the disciple John, translated by Martin Luther and set to a series of exquisite recitatives. There are regular interjections from the choir in the guise of various crowds, while stunning arias and reflective chorales provide moments of contemplation. The colourful orchestral accompaniment completes the scene. Bach’s masterpiece premiered over 300 years ago but continues to impress and move musicians and audiences alike with its timeless story of sacrifice and salvation. The concert is in support of the Southampton Centre for Cancer Immunology.

The Bach Winchester Voices and Orchestra, directed by Andrew Hayman, present J.S. Bach’s extraordinary musical interpretation of the Christmas story. The adoration of the shepherds, the naming of Jesus, the journey of the Magi and their worship of Christ are recounted in the form of solos, choirs and chorales, with Sebastian Hill in the role of the Evangelist. The arias are voiced by soprano Jemima Price, mezzo-soprano Joy Sutcliffe and baritone Benjamin Watkins. The concert is organised in cooperation with Gift of Sight which funds world-class research into the prevention and treatment of blindness.

Bach’s St John Passion combines the words of an ageing eye-witness of Jesus’ crucifixion, reflecting on what must have been the most influential event of his lifetime, with music by a deeply Lutheran composer to whom the Reformation will have given these words new urgency and depth. The narrative, taken from the German Luther Bible, is attributed to the apostle John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Bach set his testimony to exquisite recitatives which our soloists will interpret for you, with regular interjections from the choir in the guise of various crowds. The stunning arias and reflective chorales, based on hymns familiar in Bach’s time, provide moral summaries of the events. With its colourful orchestral accompaniment, Bach’s St John Passion paints an expressive and immediate picture of Jesus’ last few days, conveying the anger, fear, resignation and joy in the various voices – and once again impressing and moving the listener with this timeless story of sacrifice and salvation. The chorus Ruht wohl, almost at the end of the passion, is famously hard to sing, not for technical but for emotional reasons.

Bach's Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) performed with the Oxford Bach Soloists and directed by Tom Hammond-Davies – the spectacular result of a week-long workshop with the Crawley Bachistas.