Bach CantataFest

WETA Classical celebrates the birthday month of Johann Sebastian Bach with the return of "CantataFest" on WETA VivaLaVoce. Throughout March, we will broadcast all of the more than 200 surviving cantatas by Bach. Cantatas air every other hour between 7am and 7pm each day, except on Bach's birthday (March 21), when we will air his large choral works (Mass, Passions, etc.).

Bach composed about 23 secular cantatas for civic occasions and more than 300 sacred cantatas (many lost), which he wrote and performed to supplement readings on Sundays and holidays at Lutheran church services in Leipzig. At the center of WETA Classical’s “CantataFest” is the highly acclaimed set of recordings of the sacred cantatas featuring the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists led by John Eliot Gardiner, performed during their Bach Cantata Pilgrimage.

Please visit this page each day to see a list of the current day's featured cantatas. You may wish to visit the Bach Cantatas Website for texts and translations of the cantatas, in a variety of formats.