Bachfest Malaysia

Bachfest Malaysia was founded by its Artistic Director David Chin in 2015 with the premiere performance of St. John Passion in Malaysia by the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra. Since then, they performed Mass in B minor, St. Matthew Passion, numerous cantatas, motets, and instrumental works by J.S. Bach. They have also commissioned a new work by Malaysian composer, and performed choral works by composers such as Byrd, Victoria, Mozart, Vaughan Williams, and Dan Forrest, among others. They have collaborated with several institutions and organizations by bringing quality music to wider public, such as the Lutheran Church in Malaysia, UCSI University, Gospel Culture Centre Malaysia, Ensemble Virama, Wicked Music People, to name a few. Their performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion was awarded "Best of 2019" and "Best Choral Ensemble Performance" for the 17th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards in 2020. In 2019, their performance of Bach's "Prelude" from Orchestral Suite in C was awarded "Best Ensemble Performance", and David Chin's performance of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D major received "Best Solo Instrumental Performance" for the 16th BOH Cameronian Art Awards. Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra has been invited to perform multiple chorale cantatas at Bachfest Leipzig, as well as collaboration concerts with the Thuringer Bach Collegium in Arnstadt and Eisenach, Germany. In additional to the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra, a community-based and audition choir: Mendelssohnchor Malaysia was established in 2020, focusing on large choral-symphonic works. On March 18, 2020, Bachfest Malaysia released the first virtual performance video in the world for the Corona time, featuring musicians from around the world performing the famous chorale Befiehl du deine Wege, which has moved hundreds of thousands of viewers across the globe. The sensational video quickly became the model for many organizations, and inspired the format for the only passion performance in the world on Good Friday 2020 from the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, in which the Malaysia Bach Festival Singers and Orchestra was one of the four guest ensembles. In June 2020, Bachfest Malaysia was featured at Bachfest Leipzig’s Bach Marathon, performing Bach’s cantata no. 62. In December 2020, Bachfest Malaysia released Encountering Bach, a documentary film on the life .Bachfest Malaysia recently produced Encountering Bach, a documentary film on the life and music of J. S. Bach filmed exclusively in all the major Bach landmarks in Central Germany, available in both English and Chinese languages. In 2022, Bachfest Malaysia will publish the Chinese/English version of Michael Maul's Bach Pictorial Biography, with the Chinese translation prepared by David Chin.