History
​One of Kalamazoo’s oldest musical organizations, the Bach Festival Society was founded in 1946 by Henry Overley, Professor of Music at Kalamazoo College, who wanted to bring “town and gown” together to experience the joy of making music and to create something sublime — in particular, to recreate the choral and instrumental music of J. S. Bach and his contemporaries.
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Participants included visiting artists, local professional musicians, college and high school students, and many amateur performers. A performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion inaugurated the Festival in March 1947. In its early years, the season consisted of a Christmas concert and a spring festival week, featuring many distinguished guest artists.
Since 1947, the Festival has grown and expanded, due to the active involvement of the community: now year-long, it includes “Bach-to-School” educational programs, Bach Legacy Lectures, a “Bach-Around-the-Block” organ crawl, a Young Artist Competition and Concert, a High School Choral Festival, master classes for young singers, and performances with the Kalamazoo Symphony, as well as our traditional Christmas concert and gala finale concert.​​
The ensemble's repertoire has expanded to include not only the music by Bach and his contemporaries, but also nineteenth-and twentieth-century composers. The Festival concludes its season each year with the performance of a major symphonic choral work of Bach or another master composer (Mendelssohn’s Elijah in 1998, Mozart’s Requiem in 1999 and 2006, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass in 2000, Brahms’ German Requiem in 2002, Bach’s B Minor Mass in 2003 and 2007, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers in 2004, Handel’s Messiah, Parts II and III in 2005 and Rachmaninoff's Vespers in 2008).
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As we celebrated our 75th anniversary in 2021, the Bach Festival Society prepared to enter a new era—in a world very much changed by developments global and local. As we considered our musical identity, the Bach Festival staff and board of directors reached a clear conclusion: this identity has evolved significantly since our founding. In every meaningful way, we were no longer a Bach Festival Society. To be specific:
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While the work of J. S. Bach will continue to appear in repertoire, it is not our focus—and hasn’t been for over two decades. We have featured composers from every century in the modern era, representing diverse traditions and cultures.
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We were more than a festival, offering concerts throughout the year, often in tandem with other musical organizations.
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We were in no sense a “society”—that is, a coterie of subscribers to a common musical project—but rather an organization with wide appeal to a diverse audience.
Looking at how we have developed as an organization, we saw clearly that the answer lies in our role in the rich musical landscape of Kalamazoo. We have a century-old orchestra providing fine symphonic music and an international festival devoted to the world of the piano; it is the music of the human voice that provides our reason for being and our contribution to local musical life. We do this through our own concerts, but also through visiting artists, outreach to young singers, and collaborations with other groups.
Consequently, to launch our next 75 years, we are now Kalamazoo Choral Arts (KCA). The board of directors has defined a new mission for the organization: “to create, enrich, and transform community through singing.” This mission embodies three important values that drive our work:
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a clearer identity,
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openness to an expanded repertoire and diverse audiences, and
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a core belief in the power of singing to bring people together.​
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