When it comes to J.S. Bach’s music, Masaaki Suzuki has a missionary zeal.

“I remember him talking about how Bach was his teacher, measure by measure and note for note. The whole spiritual message of Bach was in studying his music,” recalls Bridget George, Executive Director, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, who heard Suzuki speak and his Bach Collegium Japan perform Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” at a music conference.

The Bach Collegium Japan and soprano Joanne Lunn, directed by Masaaki Suzuki, perform 4 p.m. Nov. 7 for “The Bach Choir’s Gala Concert And Fund-Raiser,” Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem.

The post-concert benefactor cocktail reception, gourmet food stations and auction follows at 6 p.m., Hotel Bethlehem Grand Ballroom.

Proceeds benefit The Bach Choir’s educational outreach programs, including “Bach To School,” “Bach At Noon” and the “Family Concert,” and the educational programs of the annual Bethlehem Bach Festival.

It’s the second time that the Bach Collegium Japan is performing in Bethlehem. The first time was March 21, 2006, at Central Moravian in an all-Bach and all-instrumental concert.

“It’s a little bit of an expansion of what they did then,” George says of the Nov. 7 gala performance.

“We were absolutely thrilled that on this tour they were available on a Saturday for our gala. We were longing to have them back,” says George.

The day before the Bethlehem concert, the Bach Collegium Japan performs in Carnegie Hall, New York City.

The Bach Collegium Japan includes eight instrumentalists, plus Suzuki playing and conducting from the harpsichord. The instruments are trumpet, oboe, flute, two violins, viola, cello and bass.

Instruments are those that musicians in Bach’s era (1685 - 1750) may have played.

“One of the things we try to do with our gala is present groups that have this deep connection with Bach,” George says.

With its eighth annual gala concert, The Bach Choir continues presenting world-class guest artists in different music genres, including Yo-Yo Ma, Dave Brubeck, Emma Kirkby, Tiempo Libre, Hilary Hahn, The Swingle Singers, Eliot Fisk and Family, and the American Boychoir.

“It’s great to expose our audiences to an ensemble of all period instruments of this caliber,” says George of The Bach Collegium Japan. ”It gives another insight into the music.”

Noting that Bach Festival Orchestra concert master Elizabeth Field is very accomplished on baroque violin, George points out, “Most of our concerts we do with the choir and modern instruments. It gives another insight into the music.”

Suzuki looks forward to his return to Bethlehem, according to George:

“Misaski is thrilled to be coming back to perform in Central Moravian Church. On that occasion [2006], he did a public conversation with Greg [Funfgeld, Bach Choir of Bethlehem Artistic Director and Conductor] and he was fascinated by the history of Bach in Bethlehem. Greg remembers him commenting that, as he and musicians walked around the neighborhood of the church, he couldn’t believe that these buildings were in existence when Bach was alive, and that several Bach works, including the Mass, had their American premieres here.”

The Nov. 7 program is: Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047; Antonio Vivaldi, Concerto in C major for Recorder, Strings and Continuo, RV 443; George Frideric Handel, Gloria in B-flat Major, HWV deest; Johann Sebastian Bach, Flute Sonata in E minor, BWV 1034; Antonio Vivaldi, Oboe Concerto in C Major RV450, and Johann Sebastian Bach, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51.

English soprano Lunn closes the program with Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen.

Lunn’s continued association with Bach Collegium Japan takes her to Japan and further afield for concert tours and recordings. Lunno appears and records with the Dunedin Consort, Concerto Copenhagen, Tafelmusik (Toronto), Cappella Amsterdam, Ensemble Pygmalion and Knabenchor, Hannover. Lunn’s recent engagements include Fairy Queen at the Konzerthaus, Vienna; the Rhine Valley Music Festival; the Oregon Bach Festival, and Monteverdi Vespers with the Dunedin Consort.

“I think people are absolutely going to love the soprano,” says George. “It’s her first time in Bethlehem.” Cantata 51 is written for solo soprano. “It’s just an ecstatic piece, especially with the obbligato trumpet. And she’s also doing the Handel piece [Gloria in B-flat Major, HWV deest], which was lost for 300 years.”

The Bach Collegium, founded by Suzuki in 1990, made its North American debut in April 2003. Recent concerts include those in Madrid, Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), London (Barbican), Rome, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Hong Kong, Seoul, New Zealand, and at festivals in Edinburgh, Santiago de Compostela, Tel Aviv, Leipzig, Melbourne and the BBC Proms.

In 2010, The Bach Collegium Japan celebrated its 20th anniversary with concerts in Tokyo. In 2013, the Bach Collegium Japan performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to open its “Bach Variations Festival” in Lincoln Center, New York City.

The Bach Collegium Japan’s recent recording of Bach Motets received a German Record Critics’ Award (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik), Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2010 and a BBC Music Magazine in 2011. In 2014, the Bach Collegium Japan concluded its recordings of Bach’s Church Cantatas, comprising more than 50 CDs, a project initiated in 1995, which received a 2014 Echo Klassick ‘Editorial Achievement of the Year’ award.

States Funfgeld of the Bach Collegium Japan, “Musicians have said that the joy in the ensemble is so great that even watching the players tune is enthralling.”

Tickets: bach.org, 610-866-4382, ext. 10 or 15; 888-743-3100

To submit press releases for consideration in the Good Cause column and request coverage of fundraisers and galas, email Paul Willistein, Focus features editor: pwillistein@tnonline.com