A Mighty Fortress is Our God - Concerts with Bach Cantatas Bach-Verein Chur

The first weekend of November 2025 falls on both the Catholic holidays of All Saints'/All Souls' Day and Reformation Day. The Bach-Verein Chur is taking this into account with the Reformation hymn "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" BWV 80 and the funeral cantata BWV 106 "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit", also known as "Actus tragicus". This cantata by the composer, who was probably only 22 years old at the time of its composition, is one of his most important works. Alfred Dürr describes the cantata in his book as "a work of genius, the likes of which even the great masters rarely achieve. The link between these two very contrasting cantatas is BWV 139 "Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott".

The ensemble

• Bach Choir Chur
• Bach Orchestra Chur
• Pieder Jörg, organ/harpsichord
• Soloists: Manuela Tuena, soprano; Nora Bertogg, mezzo-soprano; Christoph Waltle, tenor; Mattias Müller-Arpagaus, baritone

The association

Dedicated musicians came together in Chur in 2019 to perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach. After successful first concerts, the Bach-Verein Chur was founded as a sponsoring association. Its aim is to rehearse annual concerts with music by J. S. Bach and, where possible, to include local musicians. From the initial ripieno tasks, a 25-strong choir of advanced amateur singers has been formed. The soloist and instrumental ensemble has established itself over the years. To date, the Bach-Verein Chur has performed 21 Bach cantatas. At the beginning of April 2022, one of the most important works of church music, the "St. John Passion", was on the program. In addition to the two usual concert weekends in Chur and the surrounding area, an engagement on 27 October 2024 also took our ensemble to Weiningen ZH - where we performed a kind of "best-of" from our previous programs of recent years.
www.bachverein-chur.ch

Admission conditions for concert

No reservation required.

Another concert will take place on Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 8 p.m. in St. Martin's Church in Chur.