Link: American Bach Soloists - Jeffrey Thomas, music director.
If there's one thing worse than programming by committee it's programming by audience survey. It's almost tempting to cast a vote from the other side of the planet out of sheer impishness.
Go ahead, pick your favourite Bach cantatas (there are 19 listed from the ABS recording catalogue but you can nominate up to three others)... Former ABS soloists are listed for voting too, with the likes of Catherine Bott, Christine Brandes, Dan Taylor, Benjamin Butterfield and Tom Meglioranza, whose blog drew this little exercise to my attention.
As always, my concern about seeking audience opinion when programming is that most people are going to pick the cantatas (or whatever) that they've already heard before, and/or most recently. Even if they are perfectly willing to discover other, unfamiliar, Bach cantatas, if you're asking them to vote then they will (on the good citizenship model) without fail choose the known quantity. This is natural. But it doesn't make for good programming advice. And, ironically, it doesn't necessarily give the voter what they ultimately want from the concert presenter, which is to be introduced to new things that they will enjoy.
In this particular case, it must be pointed out, the ABS are planning a 20th anniversary season, and to the degree that the voting focuses attention on cantatas that they've already recorded and artists they've engaged before it must be assumed there is a retrospective method in the otherwise madness.