38th Annual Abbey Bach Festival

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, July 29, 30 and 31.

Subscriptions only are on sale now. The schedule and performers for the 2009 Abbey Bach Festival will be posted in January 2009.

The monastic environment makes the Abbey Bach Festival unique among events of its kind. The format for the days designed at that time has remained unchanged because audiences as large as facilities can accommodate are still being attracted.

Each evening has a prayerful beginning with the Benedictine monks of Mount Angel singing the psalms of Vespers in their abbey church. Following is a one-half hour recital on the grand organ, or one of sacred polyphony, or an instrumental solo or duo.

The audience then goes outside for their supper baskets, which are prepared for groups of four, giving people who come alone or in couples an opportunity to meet and enjoy their meal with new acquaintances. The mall suddenly becomes an enormous picnic. A quantity of blankets and chairs are provided; some of the audience bring their lawn chairs and tables. They enjoy the gemütlichkeit, the view of the Willamette Valley, and five volcanoes of the Cascade Range which are usually in view.

At 8 pm guests take their seats in the Damian Center for the full-length featured concert of the evening. The menu for the supper basket as well as the musical presentations are different for each of the three evenings of the Festival. Because of this combination of features and experiences, unusual in North America, members of the audience come from a considerable distance. Several are here every year from Davis and other cities of California, Spokane and other cities of Washington, Vancouver and other cities in British Columbia.

See Photos from the 37th Annual Bach Festival.