Chris Shepard, artistic director and conductor of the Worcester Chorus, will be artistic director of under the Complete Bach Project under the auspices of Music Worcester. The project will involve multiple Boston-area music groups. Photo by Matt Wright.
In last Friday’s (5/3) Worcester Magazine (Massachusetts), Richard Duckett writes, “In a development that could put Worcester in the center of a world-wide cultural map for a decade or more, Music Worcester will perform all of 18th century German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s more than 1,000 compositions during the course of 132 concerts over the next 11 years, culminating on March 21, 2035, the 350th anniversary of his birth. This will be one the first occasions … that all of Bach’s works have been performed live and in-person in a complete cycle…. Chris Shepard, artistic director and conductor of the Worcester Chorus, will be the Ruth Susan Westheimer artistic director of the Complete Bach Project under the auspices of Music Worcester. The project will get underway with concerts in the fall…. Twelve concerts a year for 11 years will mostly take place over the course of two special weekends each year … Worcester said it will bring together a wide range of musical organizations to be known as the Worcester Bach Collective to collaborate on the project. This includes the Handel and Haydn Society and Emmanuel Music from Boston; the Worcester Chamber Music Society; and Worcester area singing choruses … church choirs, and college choirs…. Throughout the project, Music Worcester will engage with area schools.”
