Rachel Elliott soprano Sally Bruce-Payne alto Peter Harvey bass Marion Moonen flute James Eastaway oboe Nicolette Moonen, Rodolfo Richeter, Anne Schumann violin/viola Alison MacGillivray cello/gamba Elizabeth Bradley double bass Silas Standage harpsichord/organ

The Bach Players is a collective of like-minded musicians who are drawn together by their passion for the music of JS Bach: our enduring inspiration and the apotheosis of the Baroque. A genuine spirit of enquiry and reassessment pervades all aspects of our performance, in an attempt to remain faithful to Bach’s intentions. We play on original instruments and all vocal music is sung in its original language. We play with forces that are as small as possible (mostly single strings and single voices). Founded in 1996, we established a series of programmes of Bach cantatas in St John’s Wood parish church in London. There we began to introduce some of these lesser-known works to a wider audience. As a result of this we have been invited to play all over Britain and have built up a faithful following. In 1999 we were invited to perform the St John Passion for the opening of the Berliner Bachtage. We have recently started to make programmes in which Bach is linked to other composers, Haydn in particular. In 2007 we are launching a new series from the church of St John’s, Downshire Hill, in Hampstead, London. This is a recently restored church of 181823; we feel that it is an ideal venue for both Bach cantatas and chamber music.

Sample Programme:

Bach Arranging and Arranged: JS Bach Five fugues from the Well-tempered Clavier arranged for string quartet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Joseph Haydn String quartet in F minor, op20, no5; Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Stabat Mater in F minor for soprano, alto, strings and basso continuo; arranged by JS Bach on the text of Psalm 51: ‘Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden’, BWV 1083
Arrangements by and of Bach; the Haydn string quartet also shows the old way of composing, and ends with an extended fugue.

Recordings:

Demo CDs available of live performances.

Performances:

17 Sep 06 Open House Workplace Co-Operative 115,
London
27 Sep 06 St George’s, Hanover Square, London
20 Sep 07 St John’s Downshire Hill, London

Contact:

Nicolette Moonen, 24a York Rise,
London NW5 1ST

Tel: 020 7428 5865

Email: nicolette.m@tinyworld.co.uk Website: www.thebachplayers.org.uk