ST. LOUIS, April 11, 2016—The upcoming Bach at the Sem concert at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis has as its twofold theme the Ascension of Christ and the fulfillment of His promise to send the Holy Spirit to His Apostles, celebrated as the Feast of Pentecost.

This, the final concert of Bach at the Sem’s 23rd season, will begin at 3 p.m. on the Sunday of Pentecost, May 15, in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the campus of Concordia Seminary. Performed by the American Kantorei under music director,  Dr. Maurice Boyer, the concert features Cantata BWV 11 (Ascension Oratorio), Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Praise God in His Kingdoms), and Cantata BWV 34 (for Pentecost), O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe (O Eternal Fire, O Source of Love). The bass aria from BWV 159, Sehet! Wir geh’n hinauf gen Jerusalem, “Es ist vollbracht” (It is accomplished), the text of which expresses the results of Christ’s saving work on the cross, rounds out the program.

“In this final program of the 2015-16 season, we experience the vividness of Bach’s imagination in sonic evocations of the Ascension of Christ and Pentecost,” Boyer said. “Exultant praise to God, deep longing for union with Christ, childlike trust in Christ’s promise to return, the stillness of all having been accomplished in Christ, ecstatic gratitude and rejoicing in the comforting gift of the Holy Spirit. The breadth of the composer’s understanding is astonishing and one’s experience of these sounds is deeply stirring and enlivening.”

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.