Since its founding in 1982 by beloved organist Paul Riedo, the Dallas Bach Society has increasingly been recognized as one of the country’s premier ensembles performing on original instruments. Under the direction of Artistic Director James Richman since 1995, the Society unites the finest singers and instrumentalists from the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex, from further afield in the United States and from abroad, in lively and historically informed performances of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Monteverdi, Couperin, and Schütz, as well as Mozart, Haydn, and early Beethoven. Every season the Dallas Bach Society presents a full program of Baroque and Classic music, showcasing little-known repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries along with audience favorites including Handel ’s Messiah (in both the early and Mozart versions), Bach ’s Passions, cantatas, and Brandenburg Concerti, Vivaldi ’s Four Seasons, as well as Baroque opera and opera-ballet with the New York Baroque Dance Company. In recent seasons, important performances have included Bach ’s Matthäus-Passion with the Children ’s Chorus of Greater Dallas; a music and dance presentation of the life of the black French composer Joseph Boulogne with Contemporary Ballet Dallas and the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts funded by an important New Works grant from TACA; the modern staged premiere of Rameau ’s Zéphyre with the New York Baroque Dance Company; and important recitals by Dutch recorder soloist Paul Leenhouts, tenor Dann Coakwell, countertenor Drew Minter, and gambist Brent Wissick, as well as French cantatas with Ann Monoyios and Bernard Deletré of the Paris Opera. Educational outreach features the new Baroque Break-out program in collaboration with Wilmer-Hutchins High School and other local high schools, funded by Dallas Arts and Culture.