Bach at New College: Anhad Arora

Monday, 15 June 2026, 5.30pm
The New Space, Gradel Quadrangles, Mansfield Road

Harpsichordist Anhad Arora performs works by William Byrd, Johann Jakob Froberger, John Bull, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Louis Couperin, and Johann Sebastian Bach. 

Programme:
William Byrd | Fantasia in a (FVB 52)
Johann Jakob Froberger | Lamentation faite sur la mort très douloureuse de Sa Majesté Imperiale, Ferdinand le troisième 
John Bull | Chromatic Pavan (Queen Elizabeth’s) and Galliard (MB 87)
Girolamo Frescobaldi | Canzon quarta alla francese detta La Scacchi
Louis Couperin | Suite in g
Johann Sebastian Bach | Toccata in G (BWV 916)

Anhad Arora straddles the worlds of musicology and performance. As a continuo player, he has appeared with some of the country’s foremost groups, including the Academy of Ancient Music, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Instruments of Time and Truth, and the Oxford Bach Soloists, for whom he serves as co-principal keyboardist, and performed in the some of the country’s most prestigious venues, such as the Wigmore Hall, The Sage in Gateshead, and Handel House, London. As a concerto soloist, he has appeared with the Adderbury Ensemble (Handel’s Organ Concertos) and the Chamber Orchestra of the West (Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto). Recent recital highlights include performing Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord with Henrik Persson and six of Bach’s ‘manualiter’ toccatas (BWV 911–916) in a specially curated series for the Oxford Bach Soloists from May to July 2025. Forthcoming recitals include a solo debut at St Martin in the Fields in July 2026. Interested in historical instruments from a young age, Anhad graduated from the RCMJD with the Freda Dinn Memorial Prize in Early Music, where he studied piano with Neil Roxburgh and harpsichord with Jane Chapman. He continued his formation privately with James Johnstone, while holding both an undergraduate academic scholarship at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and the repetiteur scholarship with New Chamber Opera.

Purchase tickets for this concert here.