IX International Music Festival Bach-fest. IX International Music Festival Bach-fest Bach Festival biography
From 14 to 23 June this year in the old Leipzig, famous for its musical traditions and well-deserved authority among the host cities of various musical events, the annual international and most prestigious festival in Germany will be held. Bachfest Leipzig. It is dedicated to the musical heritage of the world famous German - Johann Sebastian Bach.
At different times Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schiller lived and worked in Leipzig. But it was the work of Bach during his life in this city, where for more than 20 years he led the boys' choir in the church of St. Thomas and played the organ, that inspired the inhabitants to erect a monument to him in front of the entrance to the church. Here, at the altar, the composer was buried. Therefore, it is not surprising that Leipzig, many years later, became a real "Mecca" for all lovers of classical music and fans of Bach's manner of transmitting thoughts, feelings and sensations with the help of a musical range.
Historical roots of the festival traditions
The festival has a long tradition dating back to 1904, when the first concert was organized by the composer's admirers' society. And since 1908, the city authorities have taken care of the organization of the festival. And although it was held irregularly, already in the 20s of the last century this musical event gave Leipzig the opportunity to be called the musical capital of Germany.
The tradition of the annual festival was founded in the 90s of the XX century, and since then every year the musical festival has its own theme, features and new content for concert programs. For example, the 2004 festival was held under the theme "Bach and Romanticism", when his works were side by side in concert programs with works by Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn. And the 2005 theme sounded like "Bach and the Future", intertwining Bach's music with the sound of the masterpieces of Ligeti, Stockhausen and Zimmermann. The festival also celebrated significant anniversaries of other famous classics - Liszt, Mahler. 2014 is planned to be dedicated to the next anniversary of the birth of Carl Philipp Emmanuel, and in 2015 Leipzig itself will be 1000 years old. In a word, there will be enough memorable dates and informational occasions for many generations of our contemporaries and their descendants so that immortal music introduces them to the good and eternal for a long time to come.
Software "interests"
This year's Bachfest Leipzig will be held under the motto "Vita Christi". About 100 musical programs, which will take place in churches and city concert halls, will combine the theological, dramatic and compositional lines of the Christmas and Easter Oratorios, as well as the Passion of John into one project. The organizers offer both open and closed participation formats, as well as family and children's programs.
It is assumed that the musical events will be organically intertwined with the offers of a cultural program aimed at getting to know the personality of Bach - concert-excursions to the suburbs of Leipzig, competitions for young performers, film screenings, exhibitions of Bach's manuscripts, lectures, reports and an excellent culinary program. And the culmination of the holiday will be the traditional (since 2003) presentation of the Bach Medal made of magnificent Meissen porcelain to outstanding musicians.
The full program was published on the festival website back in September 2012. The organizers do this so that music lovers can plan their visits to the festival events they are interested in in advance, up to pre-purchasing tickets. This is very prudent for punctual Germans, since every year the interest in the holiday increases more and more, which cannot but rejoice.
In our hectic and dynamic age of high technology and new perspectives, it is never too late to stop, listen to the world, feel its taste and smell and join the “eternal music”, which for many centuries has made you think about yourself and your existence in the world.
One of the most high-profile events of the German cultural calendar gathers famous musicians from different countries under the arches of the legendary St. Thomas Church.
Despite the fact that such geniuses as Goethe, Schiller, Wagner, Mendelssohn and Nietzsche worked in Leipzig at different times, for most art lovers the image of this city is inextricably linked with the name of the great Johann Sebastian Bach. The Thomaskirche, whose cantor the brilliant composer served for the last 27 years of his life, serves not only as a place of pilgrimage for a multi-million army of tourists, but also as a venue for the most famous Bach festival in the world.
The Bachfest Leipzig Music Summit, also known as the Bach Days, has been held in Saxony's largest city since 1908. Today it is organized by the Leipzig City Hall and the Leipzig Bach Archive. For ten days, within the framework of the festival, about 100 events are held in the best concert halls of the City of Music, including performances by leading European chamber orchestras, lectures, church services, film screenings, exhibitions and sightseeing tours. The basis of the musical program of the "Bach Festival" is the famous organ and symphonic works of Bach, as well as their more modern interpretations. An obligatory element of the holiday of high culture is the concert of the Boys' Choir from the Church of St. Thomas, the leader of which the great composer was during his lifetime.
A significant part of the events within the Bach Festival in Leipzig is traditionally open to the public.
From March 1 to March 27, 2019, the IX International Music Festival Bach-fest will be held in Yekaterinburg. This year it is timed to coincide with a festive date - Bach's birthday and reveals a new facet of Bach's creativity. The Bach Festival "restores" dynastic ties: in the festival programs, the music of the great Johann Sebastian Bach will coexist with the creations of his children - skilled composers and virtuosos. Seven concerts of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic - March 1, 5, 9, 17, 21, 23 and 27 - are attended by three orchestras, two choirs, an early music ensemble and first-class soloists, including organist and art director of the festival Taras Baginets.
The entire Bach family is no less than fifty talented musicians who created music in the 16th-19th centuries. Four of the twenty children of Johann Sebastian Bach followed in their father's footsteps. One excellently improvised and played the organ, another was a fan of Italian music and a master of harpsichord playing, the third taught the young Mozart. But the most famous was Carl Philip Emmanuel, who for a long time was much more famous than his brilliant father. His works will be performed on the opening day of Bach-fest on March 1 by the Ural Youth Orchestra, the Ural Conservatory Choir and soloists conducted by Alexander Rudin; March 23 - in the chamber program of the Parisian musicians of the Nevermind Ensemble; March 27, the Closing Day of the festival, under the direction of Kai Johannsen, who will conduct the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Choir and guest soloists.
Bach and Handel - these two names are often mentioned together when it comes to baroque music. The greatest contemporary of Bach was born on February 23, 1685 in the small town of Halle, and a month later, 170 km away, in Eisenach, Johann Sebastian Bach was born. The two musical titans had never met, but they certainly knew each other's music. The recent Moscow debut of the singer Anna Gorbacheva-Ogilvy, who shines at the Vienna, Rome, and Lyon Operas, fell on the Handel production of the Bolshoi Theater. On March 5, at the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, she will be the soloist in the cantatas of I.S. Bach and G.F. Handel, accompanied by the Bach Festival Orchestra.
A separate concert on March 9 is dedicated to J.S. Bach's contemporaries, or rather his rivals. Bach-fest permanent participant Artem Vargaftik will “investigate” in the nearest Bach circle. In their joint concert with Taras Baginets, the music of those with whom Bach faced fate during his lifetime will be performed; and in the conversation, details related to the composition of individual works will be revealed, and everyday stories will be told, the heroes of which turned out to be those very rivals.
To draw up creative portraits of Bach's sons, whose music was not only highly appreciated by contemporaries, but also predetermined the development of musical art, will be at the concert "Organ and Chief Organ Composer" on March 17. Despite the seriousness of the intentions, this program is addressed to those who are just beginning to immerse themselves in Bach's work, and, perhaps, for the first time meeting the organ. Art director of the festival Taras Baginets and the "first violin" of the Youth Orchestra Olga Fedoteva will tell and present to the audience the music of those who are united by the surname of the main baroque composer. Having sounded in Yekaterinburg, the program will be performed in Kamensk-Uralsky (March 20) and Asbest (March 22), where traditional Bach concerts on a digital organ, a “participant” of the Concert Hall Without Borders project, implemented by support of the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region and the Ministry of Culture of the region.
Contrary to popular belief that Bach's music is organ music, the festival insistently asserts the opposite. In the 50-volume Leipzig edition of Bach's works, only 6 volumes contain works for organ. At the festival, the main organ concert on March 21 is dedicated to the soloist "King of Instruments". Traditionally, on this day - the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach - a guest appears at the console of the Sauer organ. In 2019, it will be Jos van der Kooy, titular organist of the largest Protestant church in the Dutch city of Haarlem and one of the most famous interpreters of Bach's music.
“Bach's music is universal,” says Taras Baginets, art director of the festival. “It can sound at any time of the day or night, at any time of the year, on any instrument and in any acoustic conditions, but at the same time remain interesting, relevant and exciting.” For nine years, a large family of connoisseurs of the great composer's work has formed around the festival in Yekaterinburg, bringing together musicians from different cities and countries and thousands of listeners from the region. Together they make musical discoveries - 90% of the music presented at the Bach-fest is heard in the Philharmonic Hall for the first time. Together they discover new facets of Bach's genius. In 2019 - his unique pedagogical gift, which gave the world at least three great musicians who determined the course of the musical history of classical art.
