WINTER PARK, Fla. — Long before Bach and Beethoven became household names, Moravian communities were composing, preserving, and performing sacred music of beauty and depth.
1. If you’ve ever attended the EPCOT Candlelight Processional, you might know conductor John Sinclair from the back of his head. With baton in hand, he’s also the artistic director and conductor of the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park.
2. Sinclair has been leading the WP choir and orchestra for more than 30 seasons. We caught up with him at Rollins College’s Knowles Memorial Chapel during rehearsal, a few days ahead of a concert called Passion Music for Early America with Bach Vocal Artists. It reintroduces audiences to Moravian music.
3. “Thomas Jefferson, George Washington all knew their music,” he told us. “So if you wanted to know what the Revolutionary Fathers would listen to, they would go to the Moravian’s main music.”
4. Sinclair also invited us to climb up and into the organ, with 32 foot pipes. While up there, he simplified how an organist’s skills differ from a pianist’s, who is more like a percussionist. “On the organ, whatever you play, [the sound] doesn’t die away.”
5. The Moravian-focused concert is this Thursday, March 26, 2026 from 7:30 - 9:00 PM at Knowles Memorial Chapel in Winter Park.