The Bach Choir set out to commission more new music in 2020, which was a challenging year for musicians. After a brief competition, Soprano and art historian Laura-Jane Foley’s text was given to Gabriel Jackson to compose a new piece to capture the moment we all faced in lockdown.

We Dream Films’ film proved the perfect pairing with Gabriel Jackon’s ground-breaking composition and Laura-Jane Foley’s text. Click ‘read more’ to watch ‘The Promise’ in full now.

We invited six brilliant, award-winning composers to write new works in answer to chorales from Bach’s St Matthew Passion.  They had complete freedom to choose their text, and challenge and explore different musical styles.  Whilst we’ve funded the commissions and recording sessions, we need your help to produce and release this recording, both online and as a CD, to reach the widest possible audience.  Click to watch the video.

Watch this video of The Bach Choir performing The Promise. This exciting new work by Gabriel Jackson with words by choir member Laura-Jane Foley will also be premiered live on Sunday 24 October at London’s Royal Festival Hall, alongside a short film about nature by We Dream Films.