Composed 300 years ago, Bach's music still captivates countless people from diverse cultures, in Europe and around the world, regardless of origin, education, world view or religion. In May 2024, the Westphalian cathedral, university and peace city of Münster will become a Bach city. Under the motto "BACH INSPIRIERT", 66 concerts, lectures and liturgical events will flood the cosmopolitan Westphalian metropolis at the Münster Bach Festival.
In the lively old town with the Renaissance houses on Prinzipalmarkt, the baroque Erbdrostenhof and numerous historic churches, including the baroque Clemenskirche, music by Johann Sebastian Bach and composers and musicians who were and are inspired by him can be heard.
Internationally renowned performers and rising stars bring the inspired, the familiar and the brand new to various stages. In addition to traditional and innovative concert programs, there are organ concerts, church services and devotions with music by Bach. You can experience concerts in historical performance practice, classical concerts and current, innovative productions that dissolve the boundaries between classical music, jazz and world music.
Highlights of the varied program include four world premieres as well as the BACH.ORANJE and ALT.NEU program lines. With BACH.ORANJE, the festival is focusing on ensembles from the Netherlands - because Münster and its neighboring country share an intense history. On the one hand, the leader of the "Anabaptists", Jan van Leiden, came to Münster from the Netherlands in the 1530s and established a fundamentalist regime of violence there. Secondly, Münster is the city of the Peace of Westphalia with the "Vrede van Münster", which established the sovereignty of the Netherlands in 1648. Last but not least, historical performance practice was developed "next door", and a lively Bach tradition is constantly producing top-class new productions.
The opera "J. S. Bach - The Apocalypse" © Marco Borgreve
Such as the opera J. S. Bach - The Apocalypse by The Hague label OPERA2DAY and the world-renowned Nederlandse Bachvereniging. With music by Bach, they tell the story of Jan van Leiden, the self-proclaimed "King of Münster", his rise, his radicalization, the religiously legitimized terror and his bloody downfall (in German) with the "opera that Bach never wrote". Other guests include Ton Koopman, the doyen of the early music scene, with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the innovative chamber orchestra Holland Baroque and one of the world's best choirs, the Cappella Amsterdam. The internationally sought-after violinist Shunske Sato and Shuann Chai on the piano review a short, grand history of inspiration by J. S. Bach. In addition to the world premieres of "PfingstFeuer" and the "Markus-Passion" by renowned composer and Composer in Residence Stefan Heucke, the ALT.NEU program offers two fascinating cutting edge ensembles: the Joolaee Trio undertakes an Iranian-European border crossing and recorder virtuoso Anna Stegmann, violinist Jorge Jiménez and the Polish Bastarda Trio revive the art of fugue in free improvisation "alla bastarda".
May 17 - 26, 2024
www.bachfest-muenster.de
Ton Koopman © François Berthier
