Friday, May 22
8 PM
Eastminster
United Church
(310 Danforth Ave)

Saturday, May 23
12 PM
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
(73 Simcoe St)

Saturday, May 23
4 PM & 8 PM
Church of the
Holy Trinity
(19 Trinity Square)

Sunday, May 24
3:30 PM
Eastminster
United Church
(310 Danforth Ave)

Sunday, May 24 • 12:30 PM
Eastminster United Church
(310 Danforth Ave)

Friday, May 22 • 8 PM
Eastminster United Church
310 Danforth Ave

A vibrant opening night of musical dialogue, where paired soloists spark, converse, and shine.

Directed by John Abberger

The 2026 Toronto Bach Festival will open with a dazzling program of double concertos. The concert will include the profoundly beautiful Concerto for Violin and Oboe, and the seldom heard Concerto for two Harpsichords, alongside a concerto for oboe and harpsichord arranged by Haynes and Napper as part of their Nouveau Brandenbourgeois set. Continuing with a concerto for two violins by Telemann that was in Bach’s personal library, the program will come to a satisfying conclusion with Bach’s beloved Concerto for Two Violins in D minor.

Featuring
Julia Wedman, Patricia Ahern,
Cristina Zacharias, & Cristina Prats-Costa, violin
Christopher Bagan, & Louise Hung, harpsichord
John Abberger, oboe
The Toronto Bach Festival Orchestra

Programme
Brandenburg Concerto No. 11, Concerto for Oboe and Harpsichord,
arr. Haynes and Napper
Concerto for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1061
Concerto for Violin and Oboe, BWV 1060
Concerto for Two Violins, TWV 52:G2, by G.P. Telemann
Concerto for Two Violins, BWV 1043

Saturday, May 23 • 12 PM
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
73 Simcoe St

A compelling midday pause with Bach’s organ music, from intimate chorales to thrilling virtuosity.

Acclaimed Toronto organist Jonathan Oldengarm will present a program of Bach’s organ works, with a selection of chorale-based compositions, and the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor. All at the magnificent St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, downtown Toronto.

Featuring
Jonathan Oldengarm, organ

Programme To Include
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Orgelbüchlein Chorales:
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 604
Das alte Jahr vergangen ist, BWV 614
Christe, du Lamm Gottes, BWV 619
Trio, BWV 583
Schübler Chorales:
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645
Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 646
Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, BWV 647
Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532

Saturday, May 23
Two Performances: 4PM & 8PM
Church of the Holy Trinity
19 Trinity Square

Experience Bach as his audiences once did, in a casual and lively coffeehouse setting.

Directed by John Abberger

We will reconvene in Zimmermann’s Kafe to enjoy one of Bach’s great secular cantatas, Hercules at the Crossroads, written for the birthday of the 11 year old Friedrich Christian, son of the Elector of Saxony. Never one to waste his best efforts, Bach re-purposed much of the music in this cantata when he wrote the more well-known Christmas Oratorio of 1734. The laid-back atmosphere of our Kaffeehaus will allow you to experience this sparkling work in a setting much like that of its premier performance - shows always sell out!

Featuring
R.H. Thomson, as Herr Zimmermann
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Nicholas Burns, alto
Asitha Tennekoon, tenor
Martin Gomes, bass
The Toronto Bach Festival Orchestra

With Special Guests
Students from the Collegium Musicum, University of Toronto

Programme To Include
Hercules at the Crossroads, BWV 213

Sunday, May 24  •  3:30 PM
Eastminster United Church
310 Danforth Ave

A culminating finale of choral brilliance, featuring some of Bach’s most beloved cantatas.

Directed by John Abberger

In the spring of 1724, at the beginning of his second year in Leipzig, Bach embarked on a project to compose a full annual cycle of cantatas based on the rich repertory of Lutheran chorales, or hymns. Thought by many scholars to be one of his greatest achievements, this annual cycle produced many of his most well-known cantatas. The final concert of the 2026 festival will feature four of these brilliant compositions, including the beloved Wachet auf, or Sleepers Wake.

Featuring
Sherezade Panthaki & Jane Fingler, sopranos
Nicholas Burns & Peter Koniers, altos
Asitha Tennekoon, tenor
Stephen Hegedus and Martin Gomes, basses
The Toronto Bach Festival Orchestra

Programme
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91
Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott, BWV 127
Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, BWV 93
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140

Sunday, May 24  •  12:30 PM
Eastminster United Church
310 Danforth Ave

“The Most Ambitious Project of Bach's Life, his Cycle of Chorale Cantatas”

Presented by Michael Marissen

Join us at Eastminster United Church for a special lecture exploring J.S. Bach’s life and music presented by internationally-acclaimed Bach scholar, Michael Marissen. In his lecture, Marissen will delve into questions of what exactly a 'chorale cantata' is, why Bach wrote so many of them (almost all in one year!), and why they collectively may be considered Bach's greatest achievement.

Michael Marissen is Daniel Underhill Professor Emeritus of Music at Swarthmore College, where he taught from 1989 to 2014. He has also been a visiting professor on the graduate faculties at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. Among his publications are An Introduction to Bach Studies (co-author Daniel Melamed; Oxford, 1998), Bach’s Oratorios (Oxford, 2008), Bach & God (Oxford, 2016), and essays in Harvard Theological Review, The Huffington Post, and The New York Times.

310 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON

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Located on the north side of Danforth Ave, one block west of Chester Station (TTC). The main entrance is on Danforth Avenue. The accessible entrance is off Jackman Avenue, on the east side of the church.

73 Simcoe St, Toronto, ON

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Located on the corner of King St W and Simcoe St, across from Roy Thomson Hall. Steps away from St. Andrew Station (TTC).

19 Trinity Square, Toronto, ON

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Located just east of Bay St beside the Marriott Hotel and behind the Eaton Centre, a short walk from both Dundas Station and Queen Station (TTC). The accessible entrance is on the south side of the church opposite Trattoria Mercatto restaurant.