Eye Bach Choir is excited to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The season reaches its climax with a performance of JS Bach’s magnificent Mass in B Minor in the excellent acoustic of St Peter and St Paul Church in Eye on Saturday 25th May at 7.30pm. The choir will be accompanied by four magnificent soloists and the Eye Bach Choir Orchestra. The Mass in B Minor is a monumental work. It was completed in the last years of Bach’s life, when he had already gone blind and it is widely regarded as one the supreme achievements of classical music.
The choir was founded in 1974 by Merlin and Ann Channon from their living room on Church Street Eye. Enthusiastic singers were invited to come and see what could be produced and the overwhelming response quickly earned the group a reputation for its high quality performances. Merlin said: “We were inspired to form the choir to fill the beautiful Eye Parish Church with singing voices. There was also a strong tradition of Bach choirs across the country during the 19th century, and we wanted to recreate that.”
Eye Bach Choir also performs major works by many other composers, including living composers, and supports community events in Eye. The choir is very grateful for the sponsorship it has received this year from John Doe of Dissand from the People’s Postcode Lottery through the Postcode Places Trust.
To buy tickets for the concert, or to find out more about singing with the choir, go to the website eyebachchoir.co.uk.