About Us
The Dallas Bach Society was formed in 1982 to promote and encourage instrumental, choral, vocal, operatic, chamber, and keyboard music composed before 1800 through live performances in Dallas and its vicinity. Since its founding, the Society, under the leadership of its founding Artistic Director, Paul Riedo (1982-1994), and its current Artistic Director, James Richman (1995-present), has been the city’s primary resource for early music performances by serious, professional musicians. Instrumentalists perform on replicas of instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries. The Choir is trained in the vocal style and performance practice of the period. National and international soloists specializing in the interpretation of Baroque join musicians to present the highest level of choral, chamber, and orchestral productions each season. The Dallas Bach Society’s season typically consists of about ten concerts, plus some repeats. In recent seasons the Society has performed at The Meyerson Symphony Center, the Church of the Incarnation, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Zion Lutheran Church, St. Andrew’s Methodist Church (Plano), The Majestic Theater, Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, and has given family outreach concerts at Christ Episcopal Church in Oak Cliff. In addition, each season a few, more intimate, chamber concerts are offered in private homes, primarily for subscribers. The Dallas Bach Society is a member of the Association of Professional Vocal Ensembles, The Neue Bach Gesellschaft, and was a founding member of Early Music America.
Mission
The Southwest’s primary resource for Baroque music on original instruments, the Dallas Bach Society unites the finest vocalists and instrumentalists in lively and informed performances of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Monteverdi, Couperin, and Schultz: the full collection of great music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, both familiar to music lovers, and awaiting their discovery.
James Richman
Artistic Director
James Richman, named Artistic Director of the Dallas Bach Society in 1995, is a prominent harpsichordist and fortepianist, as well as one of today’s leading conductors of Baroque music and opera.
The first musician since Leonard Bernstein to attend Harvard, Juilliard, and the Curtis Institute of Music, James Richman studied conducting with Max Rudolf and Herbert...
Board of Directors
The Dallas Bach Society is governed legally by a Board of Directors, elected to three-year terms by the membership of the Society at the annual Membership Meeting. The full Board meets a minimum of three times per year. The Society also has an Executive Committee which meets monthly and is charged with closer oversight of the organization.
Executive Committee: Ellen Marder, MD,...
Early Music
The term “Early Music” is often used to indicate music from before 1800, and usually also implies performance on older instruments. To be sure, modern symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles perform Bach and Mozart, but a performance of a Bach Passion, for instance, with and orchestra of 40-60 and a chorus to match, is a far different artistic experience that one with an orchestra of 10-20 with a chorus to match, particularly given that the...
