Round Table Discussion and Reception : “The Revival of the Music of Johann Sebastian Bach”

After the death of J.S. Bach in 1750, his music was almost entirely forgotten.  But in 1829, German composer Felix Mendelssohn programmed a performance of one of Bach’s masterpieces, the Passion According to St. Matthew, which effectively launched a full scale revival of Bach’s music.  In November 2023, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will perform Mendelssohn’s version of Bach’s Passion According to St. Matthew. 

Lafayette will host a panel discussion featuring some of the world’s leading authorities on the 1829 performance and the larger revival of Bach’s music.  An informal reception will follow.  

The panelists include:

• Professor Jorge Torres, Head of the Department of Music at Lafayette, moderator of the panel discussion
• Dr. Daniel Boomhower of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, a leading Bach scholar
• Dr. Malcolm Bruno, recording engineer for the BBC and National Public Radio and an authority on Mendelssohn’s 1829 revival of Bach’s Passion According to St. Matthew
• Dr. Wendy Heller, Professor of Music at Princeton University and an authority on the music of Bach’s time
• Dr. Christopher Jackson, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem
• Dr. Joshua Rifkin, Professor of Music at Boston University, a celebrated Bach scholar and conductor of live and recorded performances of Bach’s music