Bach’s Cantata No. 152 ‘Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn’ is one of his most beautiful small-scale sacred works.  It is contrasted with the charming cantata ‘Meine Seele ruehmt und preist’, once accepted as Bach’s Cantata No. 189 but now thought to be by his Leipzig contemporary Melchior Hoffmann.  They both use solo voices with a delicate and colourful accompaniment of recorder, oboe and violin or viola d’amore and continuo.

The instrumental group gave a highly successful concert of Vivaldi in last year’s Festival, and will play sparkling instrumental works by Bach’s friend and colleague Georg Philipp Telemann.