History

The San Francisco Bach Choir was founded by Waldemar Jacobsen and performed its first concert of excerpts from Bach's great Mass in B minor in 1937. Mr. Jacobsen remained its director for 43 years, and during his tenure, the choir served as one of the few community choruses in the Bay Area that provided singers and instrumentalists the opportunity to perform the great choral works in their entirety, specifically the full works of Bach.

Organist and Lutheran liturgist David P. Babbitt assumed leadership of the choir 1981. Mr. Babbitt gradually expanded the choir's programming focus to specialize not only in the music of J.S. Bach, but in the rich choral and polychoral heritage of composers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries whose music deeply influenced Bach's creative genius. Mr. Babbitt also began the choir's historically informed performance practice and added a baroque style orchestra to the choir's concert presentations. He held his position with the choir for 24 years until his death in 2006.

Harpsichordist and conductor Corey Jamason was appointed Musical and Artistic Director of the Bach Choir in 2007. Mr. Jamason brings to the choir long professional experience as an active soloist and chamber music collaborator in the United States and Europe, as well as teaching experience as a faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His expertise and creative vision add an exciting new energy to the SFBC's early-music traditions and broaden its musical scope as he shapes a new era in the organization’s long and rich history.

In July of 2011, Sharon Gustavon retired from her position as Managing Director. In honor of her 25 years of dedicated and inspired service, the board created the Sharon Gustavson Concertmaster Chair.