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Copyright © 2025
The American Bach Society

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Canfield Design Studios, Inc.

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Welcome

The American Bach Society supports the study, performance, and appreciation of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his circle. Founded as a chapter of the Neue Bachgesellschaft in 1972, the ABS was incorporated as an independent non-profit foundation in 1988. ABS programs include conferences, publications, grants, prizes, and competitions.

ABS publications include Bach Notes, Bach Perspectives, and ABS Guides. The Society holds a biennial meeting and conference, sponsors the Ruth Monte Memorial Bach Competition and co-sponsors the Bach Vocal Competition for American Singers. Videos in our Tiny Bach Concerts and ABS Book Club series are available for viewing. Information on grants and prizes awarded by the ABS is here.

Scholars, performers, presenters, educators, students, and lovers and connoisseurs of the music of J. S. Bach and his circle are encouraged to become supporting members. Information on membership is available here, along with a short history of the Society and information on its administration.

On this site you can also find links to other Bach organizations and to Bach festivals, as well as a small selection of interesting Bach illustrations.

Upcoming Conference:

2026 ABS Biennial Meeting and Conference
Celebrating Bach
October 1–4, 2026
Riemenschneider Bach Institute at
Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio
(20 minutes from Cleveland)

Call for Proposals

Plan to join us—Bach scholars, performers, students and connoisseurs—for a delightful weekend of music, papers on current research, vigorous discussion, and socializing. If you have questions about the conference, or are interested in applying for a biennial meeting travel grant, please contact the ABS vice-president.

ABS CALENDAR

December 2025	Membership fees for 2026 are due. Year-end gifts and donations are welcomed!
15 January 2026	Proposals are due for papers to be presented at Celebrating Bach, the ABS’s upcoming biennial meeting and conference at Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio, 1–4 October 2026.
13 February 2026	Mozart and His World, with Simon P. Keefe, an online session of Encounters with Eighteenth-Century Music
25 February 2026	Applications for the Frances Alford Brokaw Grant are due.
1 March 2026	Ruth Monte Memorial Bach Competition applications and preliminary-round videos are due.
20 March 2026	Towards a Genealogy of Eighteenth-Century Cadences, with Danuta Mirka, Dan Shanahan, Michael Slattery, and Emily Schwitzgebel, an online session of Encounters with Eighteenth-Century Music
21 March 2026	Registration opens for Celebrating Bach, the Biennial Meeting taking place at Baldwin Wallace University (in Berea, Ohio, 20 minutes from Cleveland) on 1–4 October 2026. Plan to join us—Bach scholars, performers, students and connoisseurs—for a delightful weekend of music, papers on current research, vigorous discussion, and socializing.
31 March 2026	Nominations for the 2026 William H. Scheide Prize are due.
1 April 2026	Monte Competition semi-finalists are announced.
15 April 2026	Spring issue of Bach Notes to be published.
24 April 2026	Salieri Reconsidered: Myth, Reception, Historiography, with Kristin Franseen and Ellen Stokes, an online session of Encounters with Eighteenth-Century Music
20–21 June 2026	Ruth Monte Memorial Bach Competition, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
1–4 October 2026	Celebrating Bach, ABS Biennial Meeting and Conference, Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio.

Programs of the American Bach Society are made possible
by generous gifts from William H. Scheide, Christoph Wolff, Ruth and Noel Monte, and James A. Brokaw II, as well as by fees and donations
from ABS friends and members worldwide.