Dessoff presents J. S. Bach’s B Minor Mass, complete with a full orchestra and soloists on Saturday, April 25, 2026 4:00 at p.m. at Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem. Considered a cornerstone of Western music, it is the perfect prism through which to view Bach’s compositional genius. No one knows why this Lutheran composer ever choose to compose a Catholic mass in the first place, and why, once composed, it was never performed in its entirety (and its final form) until several decades after Bach’s death. Perhaps the most convincing reason is that Bach compiled the B Minor Mass to stand as a catalog of all the musical styles known at that time, from the earliest Gregorian chants to the newly fashionable style galant.  In creating a work that has come to be regarded as the apex of human artistic expression, Bach also left a musical catalog for future generations.

In 2019, the church’s historic Pipe Organ was restored thanks to an anonymous gift, allowing challenged areas within the mechanics of the instrument to be repaired.