A Bach festival is a music festival held to celebrate the memory of the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Various locations throughout the world hold festivals dedicated to Bach. Notable Bach festivals include those held by Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio; those held by the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music; the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park in Winter Park, Florida; and the Bachfest Bolivia, celebrated yearly in Cochabamba each March since 2008. Bachfest Bolivia commemorates Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday and is organized by Bolivian director and pianist Elizabeth Schwimmer.
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The Bach Choir of Bethlehem
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem was organized in 1898 to study Bach's Mass in B minor. The choir performed the American premiere of the complete Mass on March 27, 1900, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, though there is evidence that parts of the Mass had been performed in the United States as early as 1870. Bruce Carey was the chorus's director from 1933 until 1938, William Ifor Jones from 1939 until 1969.
Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival
The Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music at Baldwin Wallace University is home to the BW Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach festival in the nation as well as the second oldest in the nation. The festival was founded in 1932 by Professor Albert Riemenschneider (longtime Director of the College Conservatory) and his wife Selma. The then Baldwin-Wallace Festival Choir and Orchestra presented the first Bach Festival in June 1933 and has continued since then. The oldest Bach Festival, The Bethlehem, and Baldwin Wallace performed together for BW's 75th anniversary of the festival.
Winter Park Bach Festival
The Winter Park Bach Festival is the third-oldest continuously operating Bach festival in the United States, running since 1935. It brings together a lineup of international classical performers to campus, for a two-week event. The 150-voice Bach Festival Society is regarded as one of the olderoratorio societies in America.