In 1958 he started to perform all the 208 Bach cantatas that are known (it is thought 100 have been lost). He finished this project in 1987, shortly before he died. He got together a group of players which he called the Steinitz Bach Players. They were professional musicians who agreed with what Steinitz was trying to do. Every Lent they performed one of the two great Bach passions: the St Matthew Passion, or sometimes the St John Passion. He took the choir and his orchestra on tour to the USA, Israel, German Democratic Republic (twice, including performances at Bach’s own church, the St. Thomas' Church Leipzig) and Bulgaria.