Bach Festival Society Postpones Performances, Connects Virtually with Patrons and Artists

(Orlando, FL – March 27, 2020)—Earlier this month, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park chose to shorten its season during the COVID-19 outbreak. Two programs were canceled, as well as dozens of rehearsals. In the meantime, choir rehearsals are occurring remotely, and Artistic Director and Conductor John Sinclair is communicating with patrons regularly via the Bach Festival Society website and newsletter. Planning for the 86th Annual Season is ongoing as scheduled.

The Bach Festival Society Board of Trustees’ decision to postpone the rest of the season was not taken lightly and took into account many considerations. The health of our patrons and performers is of great concern, as is that of our many volunteers, staff, and students who help produce our performances. The Bach Festival Society simply could not risk producing a performance to a lower standard than the Society’s wonderful patrons have come to expect.

To keep spirits bright and minds focused, Dr. John V. Sinclair is filming rehearsals for choir members. The choir members receive them by email once a week, and choir members can practice with the video rehearsal at their leisure.

For our patrons, Sinclair has introduced a regular series of blog entries called “Musical Moments.” In them, he shares a recorded song and explains what makes it a great work and the meaning it conveys. Sinclair reminds us “music possesses the power to express whatever emotion we might be feeling or thinking”—an important guiding light in our current climate. Dr. Sinclair’s most recent Musical Moment featured Paul Moravec’s Light Shall Lift Us, a stunning piece written after the Pulse nightclub tragedy in 2016 that is finding new resonance in today’s world.

Spring brings the annual United Arts campaign that provides a donation match of 15%. Donations to the Bach Festival Society are especially crucial this year. Everyone will feel the economic effects of the virus, but nonprofit organizations such as the Bach Festival Society are especially vulnerable. To donate, please visit UnitedArts.cc, and designate the Bach Festival Society as your organization of choice.

About the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park
Founded in 1935 in Winter Park, Florida, the Bach Festival Society is one of the longest continuously operating Bach Festivals in the country and is well ranked among America’s great oratorio societies. The Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra bring the highest caliber of classical music to Central Florida in the intimate settings of Tiedtke Concert Hall and Knowles Memorial Chapel on the Rollins College campus for the Society’s Annual Bach Festival, Choral Masterworks, and Visiting Artists performances. It presents a variety of educational and community outreach programs year-round. More information is available at BachFestivalFlorida.org.

The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park is supported in part by numerous individual donors; the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation; the Jessie Ball duPont Fund; the Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation; Orange County Government through the Arts & Cultural Affairs Program; United Arts of Central Florida, host of OrlandoAtPlay.com and UAArtsEd.com; and by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.