Choir presents Mass in B Minor

The Chattanooga Bach Choir will conclude its season with a performance of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor on Saturday, May 18.

The performance, conducted by David Long, will be held at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1505 N. Moore Road, at 7:30 p.m.

“For many musicians and music lovers, the one work they would take with them on a desert island would be Bach’s Mass in B Minor, a work revered for its dramatic sweep and spiritual resonance,” says David Long, the Bach Choir’s artistic director.

The Mass was completed in 1748, two years before Bach’s death. As a German Lutheran, Bach would have had no reason to create a setting of the complete Roman Catholic Mass, especially since it was not intended for liturgical use and was never performed in his lifetime.

Bach extensively reworked music he had written over the course of his lifetime to fit the texts, as well as creating sections of newly composed music where necessary. The result is the crowning peak of Bach’s sacred music and one of the greatest musical creations Long.

The choir will be joined by guest singers Maria Rist and Alissa Ruth Suver, sopranos; Virginia Boaz, alto; Mark Laseter, tenor; and Matthew Hoch, bass. The Mass will be performed in Latin.

For tickets or more info: www.chattanooga bachchoir.org of all time, says

If you go

› What: Chattanooga Bach Choir

› Where: First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1505 N. Moore Road

› When: 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 18

› Admission: $25, free for students with valid ID

› For more info: www.chattanooga bachchoir.org

BACH CHOIR CONTRIBUTED PHOTO David Long will conduct the Bach Choir’s concert on Saturday night.