30 Bach choirs from all over the world will make next year's Bach Festival both traditional and extraordinary. "With the performance of the entire choral cantata cycle, we are tackling a truly mammoth project - but not only with well-known Bach performers, but also with the backbone of Bach's care: the Bach choirs from all over the world," said the director of the Bach Festival, Michael Maul, to the German Press Agency. Warmth, closeness and community should be felt next year when the audience is invited to sing together with the choirs. Advance tickets for the Bach Festival go on sale on November 20.
Under the motto "Choral Total", all 66 cantatas that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) put to paper as St. Thomas Cantor in Leipzig from 1724 will be performed next year. 300 years after the first performance of the cycle, choirs and visitors from all over the world are expected between June 7 and 16. Over 150 events are planned.
In addition to the cycle, there are other anniversaries to celebrate during the Bachfest 2024, according to the organizers. Many of the hymns that Bach transformed into choral cantatas will be half a millennium old next year. They will be examined from different angles in concerts and lectures. In addition, Bach's first Leipzig Passion music, the St. John Passion, which celebrates its 300th birthday next year, will be shown in three different formats - including at the opening of the festival.
