The Bach Dynasty: JS Bach's forebears

The Bach Dynasty is the golden thread in the AAM's 2010-11 season. Curated by Music Director Richard Egarr, the series places the masterworks of JS Bach into the context of the output of his relations. Music was the Bach’s family trade: composing, playing, instrument-building. It is unsurprising, then, that the Bachs produced music of such astounding quality, quantity and range.

The series kicks off this month with JS Bach's forebears, a programme featuring music by three of the early Bach family: brothers Johann Michael and Johann Christoph Bach and their father Heinrich Bach. Johann Christoph was the father of JS Bach's distant cousin and wife Maria Barbara Bach. The programme features instrumental and choral music, and the acclaimed Choir of the AAM makes a welcome return to the Wigmore Hall stage.

These composers undoubtedly influenced Johann Sebastian himself: he regularly performed the work of Johann Christoph, and described Johann Michael as "an able composer".

But the trio are important in their own right too, and the concerts will showcase the extraordinary range of their compositions, from Johann Michael's moving 'Liebster Jesu, hor mein Flehen' to Heinrich's playful Sonata a 5.

The performances take place on 23 September in Cambridge and 24 September in London.