“My first year as director of the Bach Choir was remarkable and we decided to make the 2023-24 season even more packed with really interesting events,” says Christopher Jackson, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.

The “Bach at Noon” free concert series continues for the second Tuesday of the month, Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem, and the Oktoberfest Edition of “Zimmermann’s Coffee House,” popular during the annual Bach Festival in May, was sold out Sept. 30, Peter Hall, Moravian University.

The big news, of course, is the 2023 Gala Concert, 3 p.m. Nov. 4, Packer Memorial Church, Lehigh University.

“What makes this concert so special is that not only is the Choir presenting Felix Mendelssohn’s reconstruction of Bach’s ‘St. Matthew Passion,’ but it will be a live world premiere recording, and, our audience has the opportunity to be there - live,” says Jackson.

“So, that’s the beginning of our season in November and we conclude our 125th anniversary with an invitation to go to Leipzig, Germany, to perform in Bach’s home church, the Thomaskirche, for Bach Fest 2024.”

The Bel Canto Youth Chorus of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, comprised of the Youth Chorale and the Concert Choir, begins the 2023-24 season with its “Winter Concert,” 4 p.m. Dec. 3, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem.

“Selections include the music of Bach, Mendelssohn, traditional Christmas carols and a piece from Zimbabwe entitled ‘Sorita,’ sung in the Shona language,” says Kelly Rocchi, Bell Canto Youth Chorus Director.

“We are also quite pleased that several members of the Bach Festival Orchestra will accompany us in one of our pieces,” Rocchi says.

Bel Canto’s “Spring Concert” is 4 p.m. April 21, Cathedral Church of the Nativity.

“One of my goals for Bel Canto is to grow the number of students engaged in choral music. My hope is to build the love of choral music, the choral art form in the Lehigh Valley,” says Rocchi.

Highlights of the 2023-24 Bach Choir season include:

- Christmas Concerts, Dec. 9 and 10, featuring two works which premiered in 1723: Bach’s “Magnificat in D Minor” and “Christen aetzet diesen Tag, BVW 63”

- “Greg Funfgeld Family Concert: Dancing With Bach,” Feb. 18, 2024, in collaboration with the dance departments of Muhlenberg College and Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts. Selections for piano four-hands by Bach Choir of Bethlehem Artistic Director and Conductor Emeritus Greg Funfgeld and Steinway Artist and Lehigh University Music Professor Eugene Albulescu

“Spring Concert,” March 17, 2024, Bach’s “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80” and “To the Hands” by Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary composer Caroline Shaw

- 116th Bethlehem Bach Festival, May 10-11, 17-18, 2024, Bach’s “Mass in B Minor”

- “European Tour,” June 6-16, 2024

Bach Choir 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