The Berkshire Bach Society announces its 2025-2026 Spring Season with Concerts, Films, and Talks about Bach
Great Barrington, January 7, 2026 – The Berkshire Bach Society (BBS) is pleased to announce its 2025-2026 spring season with events in the Berkshires and Capital Region. The concert lineup includes two popular recitals played on historic organs of the Berkshires in February and May, a vocal performance in the new series Musik vor Bach (Music before Bach) in June, and two performances of Bach’s dramatic St. John Passion under the direction of choral conductor James Bagwell in April. In addition, the group presents two BBS Portals events in January and March that explore creativity and how J.S. Bach has inspired artists through the centuries. Artistic Director Eugene Drucker plays live and hosts conversations with special guests, providing an opportunity to experience Baroque music in new ways.
“We’re delighted to present our spring season to audiences in our region,” said Terrill McDade, Executive Director of the Berkshire Bach Society. “We’ve programmed a few musical extremes—from French and German repertoire played on the small and great organs in Housatonic and Great Barrington, to intimate 17th century songs from the French court, to a large, extravagant, and (by 21st century standards) somewhat controversial choral work that established Bach as an important composer in his first Easter in Leipzig. In our BBS Portals series, we continue to explore creativity in two presentations—one that considers the astonishing impact of Bach’s music down to the present day, and one that celebrates Bach in film on his birthday. It’s all here, reminding us of the extraordinary diversity of Baroque music and inviting us all to experience the emotional thrill of performances, talk, and film about the genius that is Bach.”
On January 24, 2026, 3pm, at the Lenox Town Hall, BBS Portals presents Why Bach Matters, a fun and insightful multi-media program by music historian George Stauffer that runs the musical gamut from Baroque to modern rock and everything in between. Eugene Drucker plays live and hosts a conversation with George Stauffer and the audience following the presentation.
In February and May, The Berkshire Bach Organ Masters showcase two of the area’s historic organs played by two consummate organists. On Saturday, February 7, 2pm, Renée Anne Louprette kicks off the series with a program suited to the delicate voice of the Johnson Organ at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Housatonic. Notably, her program includes one of the works recently attributed to a young J.S. Bach, the Chaconne in G minor, BWV 1179. On Saturday, May 2, 3pm, Peter Sykes rouses the power of the great Roosevelt Organ at the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington with a program that mixes French and German idioms and lets the Roosevelt shine. The Organ Masters spans Baroque to 21st-century repertoire and gives audiences the opportunity to hear the beautiful voices of two special instruments that are true cultural treasures in works by composers writing in an unbroken tradition.
On March 21, 3pm, Berkshire Bach collaborates with the Tanglewood Learning Institute to present the film In the Key of Bach at Tanglewood’s Studio E, the Linde Center for Music and Learning. The film is a fascinating biopic that brings the personality and character of J.S. Bach vividly to life. Eugene Drucker plays live, hosts a conversation with filmmaker Hilan Warshaw after the film, and shares a bit of cake on Bach’s 341st birthday!
On April 11 and 12, 3pm, BBS choral director James Bagwell leads soloists, chorus, and orchestra in two performances of the dramatic St. John Passion, Bach’s earliest surviving work in the genre and predecessor to his powerful St. Matthew Passion. Tenor Gene Stenger is The Evangelist and is joined by the Berkshire Bach Ensemble with concertmaster Eugene Drucker. The chorus and soloists include some of the same young professionals BBS featured in its performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Magnificats by J.S. and C.P.E. Bach. These are the first performances of St. John Passion by Berkshire Bach since 1995 and promise to be major choral events in our region. The venue for April 11 is the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington with its beautiful acoustics. The venue for April 12 is the beautiful Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY.
The 2025-2026 BBS season concludes on June 6 in Stockbridge with the new series, BBS Musik vor Bach—The Early Music Festival that presents musicians playing period instruments in Baroque repertoire from across Europe and the New world in the generations before Bach. James Reese, tenor, and Brandon Acker, theorbo, present a program of exquisite and intimate Airs de cour, 17th century secular court songs that were unique to France and popular through the reign of Louis XIII. The texts are beautiful, personal, and surprisingly relevant to today’s audiences.
Visit BerkshireBach.org for tickets and more information. Consider joining Berkshire Bach—Membership is at the heart of what we do.
The Berkshire Bach Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization under the U.S. tax code and the oldest, continuously operating, membership-based music organization in the Berkshires. Donations to the Society are deductible to the full extent of the law.