Oregon Bach Festival Chorus – Past Concerts

When Royce Saltzman and Helmuth Rilling founded the "Summer Festival of Music" in 1971, one of their first programming choices was Bach's St. John Passion. Knowing they'd need a chorus, Saltzman and Rilling set out to find the most talented voices in the community. Over the course of five decades, the Festival Chorus grew and evolved into the pinnacle of choral music performance. In 2001, Rilling and the OBF Chorus received the Grammy Award for their recording of Krzysztof Penderecki's Credo—a piece of epic size and sound that will hold its 25th anniversary celebratory performance during the 2023 Festival. The current chorus, led by Kathy Saltzman Romey, ranges from 15 to 54 musicians and features top-tier vocalists from prominent choruses and all four corners of the country.