Held in the Chapel of St. Titus and St. Timothy on the historic Concordia Seminary campus in Clayton, Missouri, an inter ring suburb of St. Louis, Bach at the Sem is an annual sacred music concert that has grown to become a major part of the seminary’s educational and cultural programs and is also a major component of the St. Louis community. Despite the name, Bach at the Sem features music not only by Bach, but church music from the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Neoclassical time periods. The concerts during the series are held in the evening and are free of charge, although a free will offering is accepted. The Hampton Inn & Suites St. Louis at Forest Park and the Cheshire are the closest hotels to the seminary.
With the main purpose “to profess the Christian faith through the proclamation of the Church's rich heritage of sacred and classical music”, the roots of Bach at the Sem date back to 1968 when the late Rev. Prof. Robert R. Bergt founded the American Kantorei, a group which grew from the old Concordia Canatata Chorus. With the music of Bach forming the core of their repertoire, the American Kantorei also performs church music from the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Neoclassical time periods. Although the American Kantorei has been around since the late 1960s, it wasn’t until 1993, after Prof. Bergt returned to the states from his post as Orchestra Conductor and Graduate Professor of Chamber Music at the Musashino Academia Musicae conservatory in Tokyo, Japan, that they began their Bach at the Sem concert series. Over the years, the American Kantorei and the concert series its self has become a major part of the St. Louis community.
As stated above, the main purpose is to profess the Christian faith through music and it is safe to say that they have achieved that goal without coming across as preachy. The next performance is on February 12th at 3:30 pm and will be the first of two concerts during the rest of the academic year due to the series having been put on hold after Rev. Robert Bergt’s passing. The concert will feature organist Dennis Bergin playing the works by Bach and will also perform one of his own compositions that is titled “The Last Enemy.” The American Kantorei will perform Bach’s Motet III, Jesu Meine Freude as well as motets by the famed German composer and organist Heinrich Schütz. In the end, Bach at the Sem is a great event for those who are into church music or who are interested in learning about the Christian faith. As stated above, the series does a good job at professing the faith without come across as preachy. The best way to describe this concert is that it is for people of faith, of no faith or who have just a little faith that needs to be rekindled, to paraphrase Irish-Catholic priest Fr. Martin O’Hagan.
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