The Bach Choir of Bethlehem presents the 115th Bach Festival May 12, 13 and May 19, 20 with entertainment for the whole family.

Says Bach Choir of Bethlehem Artistic Director and Conductor Dr. Christopher Jackson, “From ‘Bach Outdoors’ and lectures to chorale sings and the ‘Mass in B Minor,’ we have something for all ages. We start Friday May 12 in the middle of the day at noon with a ‘Bach Outdoors’ program featuring the Main Street Brass.”

Most of the concerts take place around the Lehigh University campus with some exceptions such as the “Bach at 4” sessions, Incarnation of Our Lord Church; Zimmerman’s Coffee House event, Luckenbach Mill, and “Chamber Music in the Saal,” Moravian Museum.

Festival soloists are: Sherezade Panthaki, soprano; Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano; Benjamin Butterfield, tenor; William Sharp, baritone, and Edmund Milly, bass-baritone.

“On May 12 and 19 at 2 p.m. in Zoellner Arts Center, we have a guest lecturer, Dr. Michael Maul, a member of the research department of Bach Archiv Leipzig and Artistic Director of Bachfest Leipzig, who in the last 20 years, discovered a new Bach aria, ‘Alles mit Gott,’ BWV 1127. And at 4 p.m., we’ll feature that aria during our ‘Bach at 4’ concert,” says Jackson.

The “Ifor Jones Chamber Music Concert” series features cellist Loretta O’Sullivan, Bach Festival Artist-in-Residence, accompanied by the Bach Festival Orchestra in Vivaldi’s “Concerto for Two Cellos in G Minor, RV 53.” The concert also features the Bel Canto Youth Chorus, accompanied by O’Sullivan in Bach’s “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten” from “Cantata 78. Jesu der du meine Seele.”

Jackson explains, “We wanted to make the Ifor-Jones concert more inviting to families. So by inviting Bel Canto to perform, we’re hoping that families in our area will bring their own youth and see young people performing meaningful music on stage, and then combining that with the orchestral music that people come to expect.”

Bel Canto Youth Chorus Founder and Director Joy Hirokawa adds, “In addition to Bach, we will reprise two movements from ‘Snow Angel.’ But the key piece to our program is a piece that was actually composed by one of our choristers, Julia Sobrinski. She found a poem called ‘Remember’ by Native American poet Joy Harjo, a former poet laureate for the United States. The poem speaks to our family, our ancestors and to remember our connection to our earth and our planet.”

The Bach Festival includes a Festival Luncheon with one of the festival soloists; Festival Dinner Discussion with Dr. Larry Lipkis, Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence at Moravian University; a “Chorale Sing” with the Bach Choir accompanied by the Main Street Brass, and “Bach at 8,” featuring early masterpieces of Johann Sebastian Bach and his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

The May 13 and May 20 programs conclude the Bach Choir’s performance of J.S. Bach’s “Mass in B Minor.” The May 13 concert is available live-streamed. Online ticketing for the live-streaming closes at 2 p.m. May 13.

“I have heard so many stories about what the annual performance of the ‘B Minor’ means to individual people. It’s also my very first time conducting the Mass and it’s a real honor. And the chance to work with this choir and this orchestra, who if you added up the number of Masses that they’ve sung in total, it would be well over 500, it’s going to be so exciting,” Jackson says.

“Our mission is to be a vital part of the fabric of this community. It will be a really lovely festival. The Lehigh campus is gorgeous and there’s lots of ways to interact with us while you’re there.”

Bach Festival of Bethlehem ticket information: Bach Choir office, 440 Heckewelder Place, Bethlehem; office@bach.org; 610-866-4382, ext. 110 or 115; https://bach.org/tickets/

“Classical View” is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com