Album Notes

CD NOTES
The three works included on the Ottawa Bach Choir’s fourth CD, Jesu, meine Freude, cantatas Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4 and Jesu, der du meine Seele, BWV 78 as well as the glorious five-voice motet Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227, were composed at different points in J.S. Bach’s career, yet are similar in that they use significant Lutheran chorales—both text and melody—to unify the works. In these masterpieces is displayed some of Bach’s most diverse and creative genius as he magnificently draws attention to the central themes of the Christian faith—life, death, and redemption—and the human response to these eternal themes.

OTTAWA BACH CHOIR (www.ottawabachchoir.ca)
The Ottawa Bach Choir (OBC), founded in 2002 by Dr. Lisette Canton, offers audiences a wide range of choral music of the finest quality, performing music from all historical periods while keeping Bach’s choral oeuvre as the focus of its repertoire. Through a combination of both a scholarly and emotional approach to choral music, the professional choir expands all aspects of the artistic spectrum. Consisting of some of the top choristers from the National Capital Region and beyond, the choir has achieved national as well as international acclaim.

The OBC performs a large subscription concert series in Ottawa and travels extensively in Canada and abroad, including performances in Leipzig, Paris, London, Stuttgart, Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. The choir has performed three times in Leipzig at Bach's church, the Thomaskirche, and recently made its Carnegie Hall debut in New York City in 2011.

The professional choir has been broadcast on CBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 as well as on Radio-Canada, and has recorded five compact discs.