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History & Mission: |
The Belfast Bach Consort performs on the 3rd Sunday of each month (with breaks for summer and Christmas) in St Thomas's Church, Lisburn Road, Belfast (and occasionally additionally in other venues). We started in 2008 and are about a third of the way through what we hope will be a full cycle of the cantatas. The Consort was established by Andrea Rea and Marcus Patton, and Andrea was the regular conductor for the first five years; presently there is no fixed conductor and the role is shared by half a dozen conductors.
This is the first attempt at the cycle in Northern Ireland, and probably the first time the cantatas have been regularly performed in Ireland as part of a church service. The cantatas are put on one each month, generally drawing on appropriate cantatas for the time of the church year. They are performed on a "scratch" basis, with open access for singers and instrumentalists but are supported by a regular core of good musicians. While not achieving the highest standards of musicianship because of the short rehearsal time and open access, they feel this reflects the manner in which the cantatas were originally performed, often with limited rehearsal time and the forces that were available to J.S. Bach at the time. |
