Bach Cantata Series: UMD Choral Activities
The Bach Cantata Series continues with a free afternoon performance by UMD Choral Activities, featuring a graduate student conductor and one of Johann Sebastian Bach's more than 200 surviving cantatas. This installment highlights the cantata BWV 107, "Was willst du dich betrüben" ("Why do you want to distress yourself"), a work that pairs a hymn-based text with a varied orchestral and choral treatment. The performance is part of the ensemble's ambitious, multi-year project to sing the entire Bach cantata cycle in accessible, short concerts designed to bring these masterworks to a broad audience.
UMD Choral Activities is an internationally recognized choral program directed by Jason Max Ferdinand, a 2015 doctoral alumnus, and offers students wide-ranging choral experiences across eras and styles. Beyond campus performances, the UMD Concert Choir has collaborated with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at prestigious venues including the Music Center at Strathmore, Carnegie Hall, and Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. This particular concert, however, takes place in the intimate setting of the Lower Pavilion, with general admission seating and no ticket required.
When: Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 1:30 PM (Eastern Time).
Venue: Lower Pavilion, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland. General admission seating.
Price: Free, no tickets required.
Conductor: Kevin Crouch.
Program: Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata BWV 107, "Was willst du dich betrüben" ("Why do you want to distress yourself").
About the series: UMD Choral Activities aims to perform all of Bach's more than 200 cantatas in a series of short performances led by conductors from the graduate program.
Accessibility: The Clarice offers wheelchair accessible seating, size-inclusive seating, large print programs, assisted listening devices, sensory packs for adults and children, and quiet spaces. ASL interpretation, audio description, and captioning are available for select events or by patron request made at least six weeks in advance.