The 2025 Oregon Bach Festival is tuning up for its 17-day run in Eugene.
Every year, OBF Programming Director James Boyd said he gets the same questions: “'Where’s all of the Bach? You’re a Bach Festival, isn’t there more Bach? I would think there would be more Bach?'”
Boyd has assured that each performance during the festival, which is themed "Uncovering Bach," will include work written or inspired by the beloved composer.
“I’ll leave that up to the audience to experience a little bit of a treasure hunt this year to find the Bach!” he laughed.
Boyd explained that a few of the programs will have a theatrical thread.
"Bach: Markus Passion," is a reconstruction of the original work lost centuries ago. The modern rendition features four singers and single strings as well as stage actor Joseph Marcell --known from the television show Fresh Prince of Bel Air-- who narrates the Gospel of Mark.
In 2024, OBF was awarded a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts help cover expenses to take "Bach: Marcus Passion" on tour to Portland and Seattle. The funding was cancelled in March by the Trump administration. That’s when, Boyd said, the OBF advisory board kicked into high gear, posed a challenge to the community, and has begun to raise some of the lost funding.
“We will make these performances happen and they are going to be fabulous. Losing the money from the NEA isn’t what will be remembered by the time we complete these shows,” Boyd said.
Another of the season’s anticipated theatrical compositions is "Considering Matthew Shepard," based on one of America’s most notorious anti-gay hate crimes. Boyd said the modern Grammy-nominated oratorio, set to text and music by OBF artistic partner Craig Hella Johnson, is written to instill healing and empathy. The program will include a work called "All of Us," when the Community Choir in the audience is invited to sing along.
This performance falls on June 28 in the Silva Concert Hall and coincides with Eugene Pride!
Boyd said he hopes that everyone who walks away from a Bach Festival performance is inspired to engage with art more frequently.
The Oregon Bach Festival started at the University of Oregon in 1970. This year's season opens June 27.
