Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

All six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos in one evening: a glorious celebration. These pieces, once considered bold and experimental, now feel very familiar to many. But they continue to serve as an inexhaustible wellspring of creativity, fortitude and joy. In addition to strings, the concert will feature horns, trumpet, recorder, and oboe. It is the perfect music to celebrate the eightieth birthday of maestro Ton Koopman. 

For 45 years, Ton Koopman and his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra have been synonymous with Bach. Throughout their long career, the conductor and orchestra have won numerous important awards; recordings have been awarded the Gramophone Award, the Diapason d’Or, the BBC Award and several Edisons. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, composed in 1721, served as his application letter to Count Brandenburg. Would you have hired him? Without a doubt, right?

7 p.m. / Lecture Early Music by Jan Van den Bossche
The Brandenburg Concertos 
This lecture tells the story of one of Bach’s most iconic collections of music: the Brandenburg Concertos. Six unique works ‘avec plusieurs instruments’ that are considered perfect examples of the Baroque art of ‘concertato’, a word that can mean both ‘dialoguing’ and ‘fighting’. Written for the Margrave of Brandenburg, Bach apologised to him – with the customary submissiveness – for any imperfections in the composition. Was he joking?