Bach Cantata Series: Odes & Oratorios

Event graphic for the Duke University Chapel Bach Cantata Series titled "Odes & Oratorios," featured alongside a photograph of a choir and orchestra performing for an audience inside the chapel.

Speaker

Dr, Philip Cave, Conductor-in-Residence, Duke University Chapel

This joyful St. Cecilia's Day celebration honors music's patron saint with works by Purcell and Handel. From Purcell's sparkling "Welcome to All the Pleasures" to Handel's tributes to Cecilia, this program explores the rich culture of celebration, ceremony, and artistic homage in seventeenth- and eighteenth-
century England.

Free admission. Paid parking is available at the Bryan Center Parking Garage at 125 Science Dr. with ADA parking in the surface lot at the same address.

Learn more about the composition and history of the music in a pre-concert talk by Chapel Organist Chad Fothergill at 4:00 p.m. in the Divinity School's Goodson Chapel.

Bach's cantatas stand among the great achievements of sacred music, uniting theological depth, dramatic immediacy, and extraordinary musical invention. The 2026-2027 series, "Odes & Oratorios," explores music ranging from intimate devotion to public celebration, from chamber-scale reflection to works of festive grandeur.