Chicago's Bach in the City to Illuminate Namesake Composer's Musical World in Chamber Concert January 11

Period instrument performances of works by George Phillipp Telemann, 
Dietrich Buxtehude, George Frideric Handel, and J. S. Bach
at DePaul University’s Allen Recital Hall

CHICAGO, December 8, 2025 — Bach in the City, Chicago’s newest Baroque period-instrument organization, will present “Bach’s Musical World,” a chamber concert of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries at 3 p.m. Sunday, January 11, 2026, at Allen Recital Hall in DePaul University’s Holtschneider Performance Center, 2330 N. Halsted Street, Chicago. 

Curated by harpsichordist Jason Moy, Bach in the City’s associate music director, the program places Bach’s music in the context of works by some of his most illustrious friends and acquaintances and one of his greatest influences. 

Listeners will hear two of George Phillipp Telemann’s “Paris Quartets” for flute and strings, plus trios by Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, and George Frideric Handel. 

The program opens and closes with Telemann’s “Paris Quartets,” written for and performed by his Parisian musician friends. The Concerto No. 1 in G Major, TWV 43:G1, and Quatuor No. 6 in E Minor, TWV 43:e4, are scored for the unusual combination of flute, violin, cello, and viola da gamba, with harpsichord. 

Bach greatly admired the elder, esteemed Danish-German organist and composer Buxtehude. The latter’s Trio Sonata in C Minor, Op. 2, No. 4, BuxWV 262, offers a rich and varied experience as the work moves from intricate counterpoint to rhythmic, dance-inspired passages, with lively interplay between instruments. 

Each movement of Handel’s Trio Sonata in B Minor, Op. 2, No. 1, HWV 386b, offers its own mood and character. Of special note are the witty, vibrant “conversations” between the flute and violin. 

Bach’s Violin Sonata in E Minor, BWV 1023, scored for violin and continuo (harpsichord and viola da gamba), reflects Bach’s embrace of the trendsetting, virtuosic Italian violin style combined with his signature rich harmonies and buoyant counterpoint. (Note: This piece replaces the previously announced Bach Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1014.) 

Artists Rekindling ‘Bach’s Musical World’ 

Concert artists are Taya König-Tarasevich, baroque flute; Amelia Sie, baroque violin; Anna Steinhoff, viola da gamba; Ana Kim, baroque cello; and harpsichordist Moy. 

Making her Bach in the City debut is Siberian-born flutist König-Tarasevich, co-founder and artistic director of Verità Baroque, an ensemble of elite soloists dedicated to reimagining Baroque chamber music for modern audiences. Her international career has included high-profile engagements with ensembles such as Utopia and Les Arts Florissants. A Juilliard graduate, she is on the early-music teaching faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Based in Chicago, violinist and violist Sie performs on both baroque and modern instruments. As a historical performer, she has appeared on stage with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, and Carmel Bach Festival, among others. 

Steinhoff, a Chicago early-music stalwart, specializes in the baroque cello and viola da gamba. She performs with the Haymarket Opera Company, Apollo’s Fire, and Bella Voce Sinfonia, among others, and made memorable appearances with Bach in the City’s predecessor, the Bach Week Festival in Evanston. This will be her Bach in the City debut. 

Indiana native Kim is a cellist who performs on modern and period instruments. She is a member of Chicago’s Lyric Opera Orchestra and plays with ensembles including Philharmonia Baroque, Teatro Nuovo, and Trinity Baroque Orchestras. She also performs in festivals such as Oregon Bach, Yellow Barn, Verbier Academy, and Music@Menlo. 

Bach in the City’s associate music director, Moy is a Chicago-based harpsichordist whose credits include notable appearances with the Boston Early Music Festival, York Early Music Festival (UK), and Dame Myra Hess and Rush Hour Concert Series in Chicago. He frequently performs with the Newberry Consort, Haymarket Opera Company, Bella Voce, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, among others. He teaches at DePaul University, where he was awarded the School of Music’s first-ever endowed chair as Monsignor Kenneth J. Velo Distinguished Professor in 2022. He also serves as artist-faculty in early keyboards at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts. 

Tickets and information 

Single tickets for “Bach’s Musical World” are $45 for VIP admission, which includes reserved seating; $30 adult general admission; $25 seniors 65 and older; and $10 students (with valid ID). Tickets are available online at events.depaul.edu/event/bach-in-the-city-bach-musical-world. 

For information about Bach in the City’s programs and mission, visit bachinthecity.org or phone 312-273-9834. 

Coming Attraction March 20: Bach’s St. Mark Passion 

Bach in the City will conclude its debut concert season with the Midwest premiere of British musicologist Malcolm Bruno’s recent reconstruction of J. S. Bach’s lost St. Mark Passion, BWV 247, with recitatives (speech-like passages) and “turba” choruses (crowd reactions) composed by Bach in the City’s founding music director Richard Webster. 

Research suggests this might be the first Bach St Mark Passion to be heard in Chicago in more than four decades. 

Soloists will be soprano Hannah De Priest, countertenor Ryan Belongie, tenor Oliver Camacho, and bass David McFerrin. 

The one-night-only performance will take place at 7:30 p.m., March 20, 2026, at Bach in the City’s home venue, St. Vincent de Paul Church, 1010 West Webster Avenue, Chicago.

Bach in the City 

Organized in 2024, Bach in the City is an independent, nonprofit musical organization based at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Chicago. The primary purpose of the new enterprise, heir to the long-running Bach Week Festival in Evanston, Illinois, is to present the choral, orchestral, and chamber music of Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers whose music would come to life in the splendid acoustic and visual setting of the historic Lincoln Park church. 

“Bach in the City fills a glaring gap in Chicago’s early-music scene,” noted an Early Music America article heralding the period-instrument ensemble’s 2025-2026 inaugural season. 

Choir director, organist, and composer Richard Webster, who helped launch and performed in the first Bach Week in 1974 and was its music director for the next 50 seasons, serves in the same capacity for Bach in the City. Associate music director is harpsichordist and early music specialist Jason Moy. 

Bach in the City debuted with a pilot-project concert, “Bach and the Venetians,” in March 2025 to gauge audience and donor interest. Critical and box office success prompted the organization to move forward and commit to a multi-concert season in 2025-2026. 

Chicago Classical Review proclaimed: “‘Bach and the Venetians’ offered a promising and well-attended pilot performance for the city’s newest music organization. … Webster presided over it all with a welcoming, supporting poise that evinced his decades of experience.”
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Press information:
Nat Silverman
Nathan J. Silverman Co. PR
Email: nat [at] njscompany [dot] com
Tel: 847-868-1417