Early Music Performances Present Bach Motets, June 20–22
Singers in the Chorworks summer program, hosted by Duke University Chapel, will present motets and mass settings by Johann Sebastian Bach at two concerts and one worship service, during the weekend of June 20–22. Directed by the Chapel’s conductor-in-residence Dr. Philip Cave, Chorworks is a week-long workshop for talented, early-career singers to deepen their facility with early music repertoire. All three events are free and open to the public with parking available in the Bryan Center Garage at 125 Science Dr.
- Bach, Family, and Friends: An Evening of Motets
Friday, June 20, at 7:00 p.m. in Duke Divinity School’s Goodson Chapel
This is an informal presentation of motets by J. S. Bach, other members of the Bach family, and contemporaneous works. The program explores the breadth of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century motet repertory.
- J.S. Bach: Mass and Motets
Saturday, June 21, at 7:00 p.m. in Duke Chapel
This concert features larger-scale works, including Bach's famous motets Komm, Jesu, komm, Singet dem Herrn, and Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf. The program concludes with the breathtaking and astonishing music of Bach's Missa in A major, one of his four settings of the Lutheran Mass.
- Sunday Morning Worship Service
Sunday, June 22, at 11:00 a.m. in Duke Chapel
This ecumenical Christian service offers stirring preaching, inspiring sacred music, and faithful prayer. The Chorworks singers, along with Chapel organists, lead the music. See service details and a link to the livestream.
Chorworks' founder, Dr. Cave, is a conductor, educator, singer, and the director of the professional ensemble Magnificat. As a vocal soloist, he has worked with celebrated conductors including Leonard Bernstein, and at venues including the Beethovenhalle in Bonn and the Sydney Opera House. He has performed across Europe, at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London, and has shared the concert platform with many distinguished musicians, including Sir Peter Pears, Sting, and Sir Paul McCartney.
Dr. Cave is joined in leading this year’s Chorworks workshop by guest artist instructors, including soprano Molly Quinn, baritone Harrison Hintzsche, and instrumentalist Daniel Swenborg.
Watch a brief video selection from a 2024 Chorworks concert.