Bach in the City to Open Second Season With FANTASTICUS: BACH AND BEFORE

Chicago's Bach in the City opens its second season in early October with 'Fantasticus: Bach and Before,' a period-instrument chamber concert devoted to works composed in the free-wheeling, improvisational 'Stylus Fantasticus' Baroque style that predated J.S. Bach.

'Fantasticus: Bach and Before' will be presented Sunday, October 4, at 3 p.m., at Allen Recital Hall in DePaul University's Holtschneider Performance Center, 2330 N. Halsted Street, Chicago.

Jason Moy, Bach in the City's harpsichordist and co-music director, has mapped out a 'Fantasticus' voyage through this middle-Baroque period style via 'the imaginative and virtuosic works' of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Rosenmüller, Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Pachelbel, and Johann Sebastian Bach, the youngest composer in the group.

Moy describes it as 'some of the most thrilling music of the Baroque era.'

In a program note, Moy cites 17th-century music theorist Athanasius Kircher's description of Stylus Fantasticus as 'the most free and unrestrained method of composing ... instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues.'

A highlight will be a rare performance of Pachelbel's ubiquitous, widely beloved Canon in D Major in its original version for just three violins and continuo (Baroque rhythm section), played at brisker, more authentic tempo than that of the 'Romanticized renditions most people are familiar with,' Moy says.

It will be heard alongside Pachelbel's oft-neglected Gigue in D Major, a playful, energetic dance piece with which the Canon was originally paired by the composer.

'Some have referred to the Gigue as the 'B-side' of the pairing,' Moy says. 'But the B-side of a recording sometimes turns out to be the hit song.'

Biber wrote some of the most notoriously difficult, complex violin music of the Baroque era. The concert includes his Sonata violino solo representativa and Sonata à 6 in C Major, in which the trumpet also gets opportunities to shine.

'With its evocative bird calls and other animal sounds, Biber's dazzling Sonata representativa is unlike any other work in the Baroque era,' Moy says.

Violin and viola da gamba are prominent in Buxtehude's austere, elegant Sonata in A Minor, BuxWV 272, which illustrates the composer's masterful use of 'basso ostinato,' a repeating bass line.

Rosenmüller's Sonata Decima à 5 in F Major blends strict German Baroque counterpoint with the lyrical, theatrical virtuosity of the Italian Renaissance operas the composer heard during his sojourn in Venice.

Johann Christoph Bach's masterwork, his deeply moving Lament 'Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte' (Oh, if only I had enough tears) for alto soloist, is a profound expression of repentance. He was the older cousin of J.S. Bach, who referred to him as 'the profound composer.'

The program, directed by Moy, closes with J.S. Bach's uplifting sacred cantata 'Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen' (Exult in God in all lands), BWV 51, featuring soprano and trumpet solos.

'This body of music serves up one unexpected delight after another,' Moy says.

Soloists are soprano Hannah De Priest, countertenor Ryan Belongie, violinist Amelia Sie, and trumpeter Ryan Berndt.

De Priest's recent career highlights include multiple lead roles and recording projects with the Boston Early Music Festival and appearances with the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Innsbruck Early Music Festival, Music of the Baroque, Carmel Bach Festival, Ars Lyrica Houston, and Baroque Festival of Corona del Mar, among many others. Her "radiant" (Early Music America) debut solo album 'Arcadian Dreams' was released in spring 2026.

Belongie has been praised for his "oft-astounding vocalism" by San Francisco Classical Voice and for possessing a "remarkably warm, evenly produced voice whose supple phrasing included many an exquisite shade" by Opera News. On the operatic stage, Belongie has appeared with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company, Haymarket Opera Company, Boston Baroque, and many others, in addition to numerous concert appearances.

A performer on both Baroque and modern violins, Sie has appeared on stage with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, and Carmel Bach Festival, among others. She made her first public appearance with the Seattle Festival Orchestra at age 8 and has since performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Seattle Symphony and the Coeur D'Alene Symphony.

Gramophone magazine hailed Berndt's trumpet artistry as 'versatile, superb, and committed.' He serves as principal trumpet of Haymarket Opera Company and appears regularly with ensembles specializing in historically informed performance. His performing work spans opera, orchestral engagements, chamber music, commercial recording projects, and contemporary repertoire, reflecting a commitment to versatility and thoughtful collaboration across musical traditions.

Tickets and information

Single tickets for 'Fantasticus: Bach and Before' are $45 for VIP admission, which includes reserved seating; $30 adult general admission; $25 seniors 65 and older; and $10 for students.

Tickets and information are available at bachinthecity.org and by phone, 312-273-9834.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

Bach in the City

Bach in the City is an independent, nonprofit Baroque music organization based at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Chicago. Featuring period instruments, Bach in the City showcases the choral, orchestral, and chamber music of Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers whose music can come to life in the splendid acoustic and visual setting of the historic Lincoln Park church.

'Bach in the City fills a glaring gap in Chicago's early-music scene,' noted an Early Music America article heralding the ensemble's 2025-2026 inaugural season.

Founding music director is choirmaster, organist, and composer Richard Webster, who led the former Bach Week Festival for 50 seasons. Co-music director is harpsichordist and early music specialist Jason Moy.

The organization aims to present programs heard nowhere else in Chicago and also create opportunities for audiences to hear talented young professional 'stars of tomorrow' from the city's burgeoning early music scene.

Emblematic of Bach in the City's artistic vision was its critically acclaimed March 2025 presentation of the Chicago and Midwest premiere of Malcom Bruno's new reconstruction of J.S. Bach's lost 'St. Mark Passion,' with recitatives and turba choruses composed by Webster.