Madison Bach Musicians kicks off their season with classical symphonies at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

There will be two performances:

• 7:30 p.m., Oct. 10
• 3 p.m., Oct. 11

Bach composed over two hundred church cantatas during his long career as organist and music director in various cities including Mühlhausen, Weimar, and Leipzig. The precise number of cantatas is not known, since many were lost, but what is particularly amazing to the modern listener upon hearing the extant cantatas is that Bach was capable and willing to reinvent himself in composing each work, pouring his greatest creative effort into carefully illustrating a vast array of religious texts.

In this program, hear three of these masterpieces, BWV 54 Widerstehe doch der Sünde (Just resist sin), BWV 199 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut (My heart swims in blood), and BWV 82 Ich habe genug (I have enough). BWV 54 and 199 both trace, in unique fashion, the spiritual arc from consummate seriousness, despair, and regret—sometimes a near vortex of darkness—into eventual understanding, and, finally, to joy. BWV 82 begins with the profound realization of Jesus’ earthly embodiment and sacrifice for humanity and then brings listeners to the inner peace and spiritual rejuvenation this knowledge brings.

Also on this program, by way of contrast, Marc Destrubé will play Bach’s sunny Violin Concerto in E major. We know that Bach studied Vivaldi assiduously, and it is wonderful to hear Vivaldi’s unmistakable presence in this work and how he positively inspired Bach!