As part of its 2016-17 season, Early Music Vancouver has announced the launch of a Johann Sebastian Bach–themed summer festival.

The Vancouver Bach Festival will run from August 2 to 12 and feature a collection of the German composer’s masterworks. Scheduled performances range from intimate chamber music to more monumental orchestral events.

“We thought it would be a good test of the city’s interest and enthusiasm if we put on a Bach festival, because Bach is always popular. We want to see if there really is a market for that here,” said EMV executive and artstic director Matthew White.

New this year, the festival is moving the majority of its programming from UBC to downtown at Christ Church Cathedral.

“Our attempt is to get something a little larger-scale going again downtown, and something that more people can access,” White told the Straight.

Highlights of the summer program include Montreal’s Arion Baroque Orchestra and eight internationally renowned Bach specialists performing the composer’s Mass in B Minor, as well as Beiliang Zhu, who recently won the Leipzig International Bach Competition performing the famed Cello Suites.

The Bach festival kicks off a year of concerts hosted by the early-music organization.

Season highlights include international guests soprano Hana Blazikova with the world’s leading cornetto player, Bruce Dickey; Grammy-nominated violinist Monica Hugget and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra playing symphonies from Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a little known composer of African ancestry, alongside works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn; and Toque of the Town, a theatrical celebration in tribute to the history of French gastronomy, involving an on-stage chef, two singers, an instrumental ensemble, and a tasting menu following the performance.

Large-scale events, such as the Vancouver Christmas tradition Festive Cantatas in December and an appearance by the Choir of Kings College Cambridge in March, will take place at UBC’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.

Below, find the lineup for the festival and the 2016-17 season.

Early Music Vancouver subscribers can attend any four Vancouver Bach Festival or 2016-17 season performances for the price of three. All subscriptions including more than four concerts also receive a 25-percent discount. Subscriptions are available by phone through the Chan Centre box office at 604-822-2697.

The full Vancouver Bach Festival and 2016/17 Season includes:
Special Collaboration
Common Grounds: June 30, 2016 at 7:30pm (A Co-production with the Vancouver Independent
Music Centre and Vancouver Coastal Jazz), at Christ Church Cathedral

Vancouver Bach Festival
Goldberg Variations/Variations – a collaboration with Vancouver Coastal Jazz: August 2, 2016 at 7:30pm
Schübler Chorales: August 3, 2016 at 1pm
The Art of the Fugue: August 3, 2016 at 7:30pm
Sonatas for violin and harpsichord: August 4, 2016 at 7:30pm
J.S. Bach - Mass in B Minor at the Chan Centre*: August 5, 2016 at 7:30pm
Anna Magdalena Songbook with Ellen Hargis: August 6, 2016 at 7:30pm
The Musical Offering: August 9, 2016 at 7:30pm
Sonatas and Partitas: August 10, 2016 at 1pm
Cello Suites: August 11, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Orchestral Suites for a Young Prince with Monica Huggett: August 12, 2016 at 7:30pm
All concerts at Christ Church Cathedral at 7:30pm unless noted otherwise

EMV Masterworks at The Chan
J.S. Bach - Mass in B Minor*: August 5, 2016 at 7:30pm
Festive Cantatas – J.S. Bach Magnificat*: December 18, 2016 at 3pm
The Choir of Kings College Cambridge*: March 26, 2017 at 2pm

The Main Series
Handel and his Rivals – Amanda Forsythe Soprano: September 16, 2016 at 7:30pm
Fretwork – The Cries of London: October 21, 2016 at 7:30pm
Breathtaking – A Voice and a Cornetto Entwined: November 4, 2016 at 7:30pm
Tibia ex tempore – Medieval Sketches: November 16, 2016 at 7:30pm
Ensemble Fuoco e Cenere – Toque of the Town: November 25, 2016 at 7:30pm
Ensemble La Galinia - Yo Soy la Locura: January 20, 2017 at 7:30pm
New Music for Old Instruments I: January 25, 2017 at 7:30pm
New Music for Old Instruments II: January 28, 2017 at 7:30pm (A Co-presentation with the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival)
Le Mozart Noir (Film Screening & Concert at Vancouver Playhouse): February 4, 2017 at 7:30pm
Stile Antico – In a Strange Land – Elizabethan Composers in Exile: March 5, 2017 at 2pm
Karina Gauvin with Les Boréades – Works of Henry Purcell: April 21, 2017 at 7:30pm

All concerts in the Main Series at Christ Church Cathedral unless noted otherwise.