No Bach in Leipzig this year
mainThe Mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, has ordered the Bach Archive Foundation to cancel this year’s Bachfest, which was scheduled for June.
The event draws choirs from 40 countries and has been running since 1908.
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The Leipzig Bachfest’s 2020 programme was a special under the theme “BACH-We are Family”, recreating similar festivals held in Bach’s time. Its inevitable coronavirus-led cancellation this particular year is such a huge disappointment for the 40 choirs across the globe who were to appear, including those participating individually in the complete 2nd chorale-based cycle of church cantatas that formed a central musical plank in the 2020 series. London Bach Society was to be a patron, supporting recitals by two outstanding artists of today – Mahan Esfahani and Pieter Wispelwey – plus the inherent opportunity to raise the LBS profile ahead of its own 75th anniversary in November 2021. The present cancellation is really a postponement because the 2020 series will now be presented in 2022…and we shall be there to support.
Why not do a Skype thingy?
Skype has horrible sound and is barely practical for teaching, let alone enjoying something.
I have been told that ZOOM is better.
The organizers of the Bachfest Leipzig and the Podium Festival Esslingen have arranged for one of the performances that was scheduled for the Bach festival, a 3-person arrangement of the St John Passion for tenor, percussion, and harpischord/organ, to be performed live and streamed from the Thomaskirche in Leipzig on Good Friday (April 10): http://www.podium-esslingen.de/events/johannespassion-livestream-bachfest-leipzig/