The upcoming Bach at the Sem concert at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis has as its theme the person of Christ, true God and true Man, with whom Christians journey in the coming season of Lent.

The third concert of the 23rd season will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary with a selection of works by J.S. Bach performed by the American Kantorei under Music Director Dr. Maurice Boyer.

The concert features two cantatas for Quinquagesima Sunday or 50 days before Easter: Cantata BWV 127, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’r Mensch und Gott (Lord Jesus Christ, true Man and God) and Cantata BWV 23, Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn (You, true God and Son of David).

“In these cantatas, Bach takes us into the heart of the Passion of Christ where the love of God meets the solitary individual,” Boyer said. “Vulnerability and generosity are brought together to offer music of deep longing, tremendous comfort and abiding joy.”

The Quinquagesima cantatas bracket a program that includes a duet from another cantata for the same Sunday, BWV 159, Sehet! Wir geh’n hinauf gen Jerusalem (See! We are going up to Jerusalem). Rounding out the program is Cantata BWV 161, Komm du süße Todesstunde (Come, sweet hour of death), a cantata with profound meaning for the faithful Christian.

One more concert fills out the schedule for the 2015-16 Bach at the Sem season at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 15. The highlight will be Bach’s Cantata BWV 11, Ascension Oratorio.

The American Kantorei, the performing group of Bach at the Sem, was founded in 1969 under the direction of Rev. Robert Bergt, a member of the Concordia Seminary faculty. Following a hiatus of some 20 years, the Kantorei was resurrected in 1993 and has since presented to the communities of Concordia Seminary and St. Louis at large more than 100 concerts of Bach’s premier compositions, as well as music of Schütz, Buxtehude, Mendelssohn and other Lutheran composers.

All concerts are free and open to the public. For additional information, please call 314-505-7009, write to [email protected] or visit www.csl.edu/bach.

About Concordia Seminary
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides Gospel-centered graduate-level theological education for pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and other leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). To learn more, visit www.csl.edu.