Bachfest Malaysia and the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers & Orchestra

Bachfest Malaysia was founded by Artistic Director David Chin in 2015. Its inaugural performance was the Malaysian premiere of St. John Passion by the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra. Since then, they have performed Mass in B minor, St. Matthew Passion, numerous cantatas, motets, and instrumental works by Johann Sebastian Bach. They recently performed several Bach cantatas and motets at the St. Thomas Church during the renowned international Bachfest Leipzig in Germany, and received raving reviews and extended standing ovation. They also performed at the St. George’s Church in Eisenach and the Bach Church in Arnstadt.
 
In their home country, the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra have performed in Kuala Lumpur, Muar, George Town, Sibu, Bintulu, and Kota Kinabalu. Their performances of Bach's music have been repeatedly recognized at the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards, winning "Best of 2019" and "Best Choral Ensemble Performance" for St. Matthew Passion in 2020, and "Best Ensemble Performance" for "Prelude" from Orchestral Suite in C in 2019. That same year, David Chin's performance of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D major also received "Best Solo Instrumental Performance”.
 
Highlights of 2023 include All Things New concert, where the Malaysia Bach Festival Orchestra performed two solo cantatas and keyboard concertos with renowned artists, soprano Ang Mei Foong and pianist Ng Chong Lim. This performance has been nominated for “Best Ensemble Performance” and “Best Solo Instrumental Performance” at the 19th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards. In addition, Bachfest Malaysia also started a new interactive family concert series with Hello, Mr. Bach. Multiple performances of Bach’s rarely-heard 1725 St. John Passion took place in Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, along with exhibition of Bach’s rare manuscript materials and lectures.
 
Bachfest Malaysia has been creating excellent music-making opportunities for young local talents. Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra consists some of the best musicians in the country, which include leaders and principals from prominent ensembles such as the National Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Virama, Young Choral Academy, KL City Opera, Wicked Music People, VerSes, YinQi Choir, Klpac Orchestra, to name a few. Apart from the music of J.S. Bach, they have also performed works by composers such as Byrd, Victoria, Mozart, Vaughan Williams, and Dan Forrest, as well as a new commission by Malaysian composer Caeleb Tee. 

In 2022, Bachfest Malaysia published the Chinese/English version of Prof. Dr. Michael Maul's Bach: A Pictorial Biography, with the Chinese translation prepared by Prof. Dr. David Chin. The book was launched officially during the Out of the Depths nationwide Bach cantata concert tour joined by the author himself. More than 1,000 copies have been sold worldwide to date.
Bachfest Malaysia was equally active during the corona pandemic of 2020-22. March 18, 2020 saw the release of the first virtual performance video worldwide of the Corona time, featuring musicians from around the world performing the famous chorale Befiehl du deine Wege. The sensational video moved hundreds of thousands of viewers across the globe, and quickly became the model for many other corona-time virtual ensembles. It inspired the format for the only passion performance in the world on Good Friday 2020 from the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, in which the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra was one of the four guest ensembles. In June 2020, Bachfest Malaysia was featured at Bachfest Leipzig’s Bach Marathon, performing Bach’s cantata no. 62 in the same virtual performance format. The following December, Bachfest Malaysia released Encountering Bach, a documentary film on the life and music of J. S. Bach, filmed exclusively in Germany. It is available in both English and Mandarin versions, and has drawn a large viewership from across the globe. 

馬來西亞巴赫節 暨
馬來西亞巴赫慶典合唱與管弦樂團

馬來西亞巴赫節於2015年由陳子虔博士創立。首場音樂會是由馬來西亞巴赫慶典合唱與管弦樂團呈獻，在本國首演巴赫的《聖約翰受難曲》。此後，他們演出了巴赫的《B小調彌撒曲》、《聖馬太受難曲》以及多部清唱劇、經文歌和器樂作品。馬來西亞巴赫慶典合唱與管弦樂團今年於著名的德國萊比錫國際巴赫節上在聖多馬教堂（Thomaskirche Leipzig）呈現巴赫當時在那裡所創作並首演的幾部清唱劇和經文歌，獲得《萊比錫人民時報》贊不絕口的樂評：““音色細膩，乾淨俐落，吐字清晰，樂句流暢，充滿智慧和活力並大膽的變化... 產生了一種圓潤、透明、光彩照人和極富感染力的聲音... 敏感地環繞、照亮並解釋了清唱劇的內容... 是場一流水平的音樂會”。此外，他們也到了巴赫接受幼童洗禮的艾森納赫聖喬治教堂（Georgenkirche Eisenach）以及年輕巴赫擔任第一份專業職位的阿恩施塔特巴赫教堂（Bachkirche Arnstadt）中演出。

在國內，馬來西亞巴赫慶典合唱與管弦樂團的表演足跡遍布全國，其中包括吉隆坡、麻坡、檳城、詩巫、民都魯以及亞庇。馬來西亞巴赫慶典合唱與管弦樂團所演出的《聖馬太受難曲》榮獲第十七屆寶樂金馬倫藝術獎的“2019最佳演出”以及“最佳合唱演出”兩個獎項。此外，他們也以巴赫《C大調管弦樂組曲》中的序曲以及陳子虔博士獨奏的巴赫《D大調大鍵琴協奏曲》分別贏得第十六屆寶樂金馬倫藝術獎的“最佳器樂合奏獎”以及“最佳器樂獨奏獎”。

​2023年的主要項目包括《萬象更新》音樂會，由馬來西亞巴赫慶典管弦樂團與我國著名音樂家女高音洪美楓以及鋼琴家黃仲林合作，呈現巴赫獨唱清唱劇以及鍵盤協奏曲。此演出近期獲得第19屆寶樂金馬倫藝術獎“最佳樂器合奏”以及“最佳樂器獨奏”的提名。此外，馬來西亞巴赫節也以《巴赫先生，您好！》推出了親子音樂會系列，通過演出與教育將優質音樂普及化。同年，巴赫罕見的1725年《約翰受難曲》在吉隆坡和沙巴亞庇舉行多場演出，並展出巴赫珍貴的手稿資料和講座。

從創團至今，馬來西亞巴赫音樂節不斷與本地優秀的音樂家共創高素質的音樂製作環境。馬來西亞巴赫慶典合唱與管弦樂團由國內優秀的青年音樂家組成，其中包括來自著名樂團的領導和首席，例如國家交響樂團、Virama樂團、吉隆坡城市歌劇公司、青年合唱學院、威克音樂人、VerSes詩樂合奏團、音契聖樂團、吉隆坡演藝中心交響樂團等。除了演出古今多位作曲家的作品，巴赫節也委託馬來西亞作曲家鄭聯晨創作一部新作品。

​​2022年，馬來西亞巴赫節成功出版了德國著名巴赫學者米歇爾·茂爾教授博士中英版的《巴赫圖文傳記》，由陳子虔教授博士負責中文翻譯。作者親臨參與《夜盡天明》巴赫清唱劇音樂會全國巡演，為此傳記作正式的推介禮。目前全球已售出超過一千冊。

馬來西亞巴赫節在疫情期間保持活躍。2020 年 3 月 18 日，馬來西亞巴赫節發布了全球第一個新冠時代的虛擬表演視頻，凝聚了來自世界各地的音樂家演出著名的眾讚曲《將來未知行踪》，感動了全球數十萬觀眾。這段轟動一時的視頻很快成為許多組織的榜樣，並啟發了萊比錫巴赫節於 2020 年受難日在聖多馬教堂舉行該年世界上唯一一場受難曲的表演形式，而馬來西亞巴赫慶典合唱與管弦樂團是四組演出嘉賓的其中一組。 2020 年 6 月，馬來西亞巴赫節在萊比錫的“巴赫馬拉鬆”上擔任表演嘉賓，同樣以虛擬表演視頻呈現了巴赫清唱劇第62部《外邦人的救主，我願你來》。2020 年 12 月，馬來西亞巴赫節推出《追踪巴赫》，一部攝於德國有關巴赫生平與音樂的紀錄片，分別有中英兩個版本，獲得了全球大量的收視率。