First performed in Leipzig on 15 October 1724 (the 19th Sunday after Trinity), ‘Wo soll ich fliehen hin’ displays Bach’s fondness for symmetrical structures and also features a rare appearance from the tromba di tirasi – the slide trumpet.

Mirroring the spiritual journey, Rachael Hamp from the Open University takes us to Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus – a place that at first glance seems hostile yet is one of the most likely places in the solar system we’ll find extraterrestrial life.

This season we also shine a light on the music of the Flemish composer Jacobus Clemens (c. 1510 – 1556), beginning with a Kyrie from one of his 15 surviving masses. Clemens was a prolific composer of sacred music and was greatly admired by many of his contemporaries including Orlando Lassus. Curiously, he came to be known as Clemens non Papa, that is Clemens-but-Not-the-Pope – thought to be a reference to Pope Clement VII – there is very little evidence this distinction was necessary leading to speculation it may have been an ‘in joke’!

This event will last approximately 1 hour, with no interval.

Clemens‘Kyrie’ from Missa Ecce quam bonum
BachWo soll ich fliehen hin (‘Where shall I flee’), BWV 5

Sofia Kirwan-Baez soprano
Angharad Rowlands alto
Hugo Brady tenor
Peter Edge bass
Steven Devine director
Rachael Hemp guest speaker