Come and sing choruses from Bach’s Mass in B minor for an afternoon with members of the Bristol Bach Choir. We will be lead by our very own conductor David Bednall and ably accompanied by Nigel Nash. The afternoon with conclude with a performance to residents of St Monica’s.
8 November 2025
Tickets (including score hire) £20 (students £10)
St Monica Trust, Cote Lane,
Westbury-on-Trym,
Bristol, BS9 3UN
Described by Parry as ‘the mightiest choral work ever written’, the Mass in B minor by J.S. Bach is unquestionably one of the keystones of the repertoire. Bristol Bach Choir will present a performance of this eternally fresh masterpiece with the Bristol Ensemble on Baroque Instruments. The acoustics of St George’s will be the ideal place in which to hear this work with its wide-ranging textures of arias, ensembles and choruses and to wonder again at Bach’s seemingly bottomless source of inspiration.
21 March 2026 7.30 pm
St George’s, Brandon Hill, Great George Street BS1 5RR
Tickets: £30, £26, £20, £12, Students & under 18s (suitable for over 10s) £5
Further details and ticket sales will be available nearer the time.
Bristol Bach Choir’s traditional Christmas Concert will see the choir perform a variety of seasonal music from across the ages. There will be some classic favourites alongside some less well-known items, and an eclectic mix of works from the Renaissance to the contemporary, both sacred and secular, serious and light. This will sit alongside a mix of readings and a couple of numbers for you to join in!
13th December, 2025 7.30 pm
St George’s, Brandon Hill, Great George Street BS1 5RR.
Tickets: £25, £18, £12, Students & under 18s (suitable for over 7s) £5
A fascinating programme of secular music reflecting on times and seasons. The never-ending pace of life has been an inspiration for composers and this programme will have a contemporary feel, with works reflecting the different moods that the changing of the year and the times of day produce. Works will range from the serious to the folkloric, and evoke the various moods which occur as day turns to night, and spring turns to summer and autumn.
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20 June 2026 7.30 pm
All Saints Clifton, 68 Pembroke Road, BS8 3ED
Tickets: £21 (reserved), £15 (unreserved), Students & under 18s £1
Further details and ticket sales will be available nearer the time.
This autumn will see a focus on the music of Bach, Brahms, and Bruckner, three very different composers but ones familiar to all music-lovers. Whilst all are known for their large-scale works, their output of choral music is no less masterly, and often seems to encapsulate an entire symphonic world in a short time span. The principal work will be J.S. Bach’s Motet Jesu Meine Freude, which across its 11 sections exploits the full gamut of choral writing. Brahms’ beautiful Op. 29 motets will be joined by his Fest- und Gedenksprüche and the secular Drei Gesange, whilst Bruckner’s beautiful Os Justi and majestic Ecce Sacerdos will provide a thrilling end to the concert.
18th October 2025 7.30 pm
Trinity-Henleaze United Reform Church, Waterford Road, BS9 4BT
Tickets : £21 (reserved), £15 (unreserved). Students & under 18s £5
Tickets: £21 (reserved), £15 (unreserved), £1 (students & under 18’s)
In Northern Lights on 21st June 2025 Bristol Bach Choir will present a programme showing some of the richly varied choral works which come from the Baltic States and associated schools of composition. The emphasis will be on contemporary composers, with names such as Pärt, Gjeilo, Ešenvalds, Miskinis and Dubra, and will highlight that, whilst there are certain qualities which seem to identify this music’s geographical origin, they are nevertheless hugely varied in sound and style. This sumptuous variety includes Holy Minimalism and some very spare, haunting writing, through to the dense multi-choir pieces which truly deserve the term ‘choral orchestration’. Both secular and sacred music will feature, and the concert will be an exciting dip into this vast sea of music.
tickets will be on sale from 7pm on the door
Bristol Bach Choir’s summer concert will be a beautiful and entertaining mix of the fun, thoughtful, poignant and sensuous as they explore secular music by Bob Chilcott, Cecilia McDowall, William Mathias, and George Shearing. The programme will explore the weather in The Shipping Forecast, major world events in Five Days that changed the world, and the eternal power of Shakespeare. At the emotional heart of the programme is the tragically short-lived Lili Boulanger’s simply stunning Soir sur la plaine.
Tickets: £22 (reserved), £15 (unreserved), students & under 18s £1
Online ticket sales are now closed for this concert.
Tickets will be available to purchase on the door from 7pm.
David Bednall – Conductor
Nigel Nash – Accompanist
Bristol Bach Choir will perform two highly contrasting and beautiful works for many voices. The text of the Stabat Mater focusses on Mary as she stands at the foot of the cross grieving for her son. Scarlatti’s setting is one of the pinnacles of the Baroque repertoire and is scored for 10 voice parts throughout; its myriad textures ranging from the sparse to the densely contrapuntal as it wrings every vestige of emotion and drama from this powerful and harrowing poem.
The contemporary composer Gabriel Jackson’s Requiem provides a stunning contrast to this, sharing the many-voiced textures, but suffused with light, warmth and peace. The composer sets texts from the Latin Mass as well as some from other cultures, religions, and traditions. They all share a common belief in death being not the end, but rather something filled with hope for a new life ahead.
Tickets: £22 (reserved), £15 (unreserved)
For this concert we’re offering tickets to students and under 18s for just £1
The box office has now closed for this concert.
Tickets will be available on the door.
If you have ordered tickets in the last few days, please note that our Ticket Secretary manually processes orders for tickets on the website or via email/phone. There may therefore be a delay to you receiving your tickets, which will be emailed to you in good time before the concert.
If you have any issues with purchasing tickets please contact our Ticket Secretary on 0117 214 0721 or tickets@bristolbach.org.uk
Enjoy a workshop with us on J. S. Bach fabulous Magnificat in D
Our workshop is nearly fully booked, please contact Judith VORLEY at 01172140721 to enquire about spaces, or email tickets@bristolbach.org.uk
Byrd – Ad Dominum cum Tribularer ;In Felix Ego
Handel – Coronation Anthem: My heart is inditing ; The King shall Rejoice
Finzi – Magnificat
Finzi & Bednall – Nunc dimittis
Parry – Blest Pair of Sirens
Britten – Rejoice in the Lamb
Howells – Behold O God our defender
Online ticket sales are now closed, but tickets will be available on the door at 19.00