Emmanuel Music

Since 1970, the Orchestra and Chorus of Emmanuel Music have presented Bach cantatas during our Sunday services. The current placement of the cantata after the distribution of communion provides the congregation an extended time of meditation for integration of the elements of the service, so that we are better prepared to be of service in the wider world during the coming week.

Listen to conductor Simon Halsey's interview with renowned director Peter Sellars, who staged several Mozart operas with Emmanuel Music in the 1980s. Starting at just after the one-minute mark, he describes our unique ministry of Bach cantatas offered in the same building that houses a women's shelter, a suicide prevention center, more than a dozen 12-step programs, and other programs for people with broken lives. Sellars is speaking of his own introduction to Bach at Emmanuel Church, but his description of the communities served by Emmanuel has been true since the church's founding in 1861.

Our Music Director

In September 2010, Ryan Turner succeeded interim director John Harbison and our late director Craig Smith as Music Director and Artistic Director of Emmanuel Music. As a long-time member of Emmanuel Music and tenor in our choir, Ryan, and his wife, soprano Susan Consoli, are known to many of us. For more details please see Emmanuel Music's announcement, Jeremy Eichler's announcement in the Globe, and David Weininger's article about Ryan's selections for the upcoming season.