Back to Bach B Minor Concerts Open OBF

Helmuth Rilling leads the OBF's opening concerts in Portland and Eugene.

The 39th Oregon Bach Festival opens with one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s signature works, the B Minor Mass. Near the end of his life, Bach refined and assembled 25 years of his most important musical ideas into one great statement. A summation of his mastery and a testament to his devout faith, the B Minor Mass has become a milestone of Western culture.

Helmuth Rilling, OBF artistic director and one of the work's most astute interpreters, leads the OBF Chorus, Orchestra, and soloists in two performances of this masterpiece, on Friday, June 27 at the Arlene Schnitzer Hall in Portland (our first concert in Portland since 1981), and the following evening, June 28, in Silva Hall in Eugene’s Hult Center for the Performing Arts.

If you are new to the OBF and want to pick one event that embodies the essence, power, and artistry of the Festival, you can’t go wrong with the B Minor Mass - the work that Helmuth Rilling views as Bach's "heritage to mankind."

View concert details: June 27 Portland, June 28 Eugene