User:CryingDonkey/Baroque Amateur Choir B.A.CH.

The Baroque Amateur Choir—B.A.CH.—is a Ukrainian choral singing community that performs Baroque music. The choir brings together individuals from diverse professions and interests, many without formal musical education.

The choir was founded in April 2018 on the initiative of Open Opera Ukraine, an independent project aimed to create Baroque opera productions and revive Ukrainian baroque legacy. The head of the choir, Natalia Khmilevska, is the co-founder and art director of Open Opera Ukraine who also leads the Musica Sacra Ukraina project dedicated to the exploration and performance of Ukrainian baroque music.

The B.A.CH. choir consistently engages in concerts in Kyiv, having performed at the Lutheran Church of St. Catherine and St. Cyril's Monastery, October Hall, Francophonie Festival, the House of Architects, the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, and the National Sanctuary Sophia of Kyiv with diverse programs of baroque music. The B.A.CH. Choir performs works by composers such as Bach, Handel, Purcell, Dyletsky, and Leontovych. The choir's repertoire includes madrigals, chorales, Ukrainian kants, and other genres.

In 2020, the choir took part in the online competition of World Choir Games hosted by Interkultur in Belgium and produced a video of "Mother of Mercy" by Dmytro Tupalo, arranged by Hanna Havrylets.

In July 2021, the B.A.CH. choir presented a concert rendition of Emilio de’ Cavalieri's opera-oratorio Rappresentatione Di Anima et Di Corpo (1600). The performance was a collaboration with professional musicians from the Kryla Orchestra and support from Open Opera Ukraine.

In December 2021, the B.A.CH. choir collaborated with musicians from the Kryla Orchestra and soloists from the Partes Ensemble on a performance that showcased excerpts from J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio. This work was performed according to the historically informed approach, using musical tuning of 415 Hz and authentic baroque instruments with gut strings.

In March 2022, the B.A.CH. choir was invited to perform at the Choral Celebrations festival at Berlin Philharmonic along with five other choirs from various parts of Europe, doing a rendition of Handel's Coronation Anthems directed by Simon Carrington, but the participation was prevented by the russia's war against Ukraine.

The choir continues rehearsing and performing in Kyiv.

Articles in media
Open Opera directors on the ecosystem of an amateur choir

Cavalieri's opera performed by the amateur choir

Baroque Amateur Choir and professional musicians to perform opera fragments on Vergilius motives