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History & Mission: |
The birth of the Chicago Bach Project in 2011 launched Soli Deo Gloria's annual cycle of presenting J.S. Bach's great choral masterworks - the St. Matthew Passion, (BWV 244), St. John Passion (BWV 245) and Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) - in rotation each year during Holy Week. Inspired by the tradition at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, where SDG's Artistic Director, John Nelson, led three such cycles of this Bach trilogy to great acclaim, the Chicago Bach Project's goal is to share this transcendent music with the broadest possible audience through arrangements for student attendance, performances and radio/Internet broadcasts.
Soli Deo Gloria is a nonprofit international organization based in the Chicago suburbs dedicated to enhancing, preserving and promoting traditional and contemporary sacred music at the highest level in the USA and abroad. SDG takes its name from the Latin phrase Bach inscribed on many of his compositions meaning "to God alone be the glory."
During its eighteen-year history, SDG has commissioned over twenty new sacred works from leading composers, including works by Pulitzer Prize-winner Christopher Rouse; pre-eminent Scottish composer James MacMillan; and Chicago Symphony Chorus Composer-in-Residence Augusta Read Thomas.
The organization's activity has involved such ensembles as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the San Diego Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Children's Choir, The American Boychoir, and Westminster Choir College.
Sacred music recordings sponsored by Soli Deo Gloria include Henryk Górecki's Miserere (CD, 1994; the first-ever collaboration of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Chorus and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus); Hector Berlioz' Te Deum (CD, 2001); J.S. Bach's Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) (DVD, 2006); L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (DVD, 2011); and Haydn's The Creation (DVD, 2011) and J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) (forthcoming). Visit SDGmusic.org to learn more. |
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Recent Festivals: |
1st Event: April 20, 2011: St. Matthew Passion
2nd Event: April 4, 2012: St. John Passion
3rd Event: Mar 27, 2013: Mass in B minor
4th Event: Apr 11, 2014 - St. Matthew Passion
5th Event: Mar 26, 2015 - St. John Passion
6th Event: Mar 11, 2016 - Mass in B minor |
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