91¸£ÀûÉç

The 91¸£ÀûÉç Singers draw their 2025/2026 season to a close with a concert from Milton Court, London in which they join forces with the Academy of Ancient Music under the baton of the Singers’ outgoing Chief Conductor, Sofi Jeannin, to perform Bach’s monumental Mass in B minor. Over the last eight years, Sofi has guided the 91¸£ÀûÉç Singers through a transformative era which has produced some exceptional music-making, and tonight’s concert is a fitting celebration of that rich artistic partnership with an exhilarating performance of a work which Richard Wagner deemed "the most stupendous miracle in all music",

A Catholic Mass by a devout Lutheran composer, finished the year before Bach’s death despite his failing health and eyesight, the Mass in B minor was likely never performed in its entirety during Bach’s lifetime. Featuring choir and orchestra with extended wind section, strings and continuo, today it is widely regarded as one of the most extraordinary achievements in the classical repertoire. It occupies a unique position in Western music, not only for its scale but for the way it encapsulates the full breadth of Bach’s compositional language. The work’s architecture reflects both a deep engagement with tradition and a remarkable vision. The Credo, for instance, evokes the 'stile antico' of the past, while the Confiteor employs a strikingly chromatic language that looks toward the future.

Recorded on 10 May 2026 and presented by Martin Handley.

Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232

91¸£ÀûÉç Singers
Academy of Ancient Music
Rebecca Lea & Alice Gribbin, Ciara Hendrick, Clare Lloyd-Griffith & Peter Davoren, Rebekah Nießer-Jones, Timothy Dickinson, Eve McGrath & Nancy Cole, Jamie W Hall, Benjamin Durrant, Katherine Nicholson (soloists)
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)

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