Two cantatas open the Bachcelona Festival at L’Auditori
Concerts take place throughout July, with two additional ones in September and December.
The performance of two festive cantatas opens a new edition of the Bachcelona Festival on July 14 at L’Auditori in Barcelona, a festival dedicated to the composer. This first session, called Bach Inaugural, aims to make the composer known and to explore the many possibilities offered by his music.
The festival officially opens on Monday, but fills the month of July with many other performances (concerts on July 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, as well as September 16 and December 30), including a concert that is part of the Grec 2025 Festival of Barcelona, The rest is silence (July 24, sold out), by the group Breaking Bach, held in a unique venue: the Casa Studio of Leopoldo Pomés, a beautifully decorated home in the heart of Gràcia.
The July 14 concert features the festival’s vocal and instrumental ensembles (Cor Bachcelona Akademie and Bachcelona Consort), along with young soloists awarded the Salvat Beca Bach, who bring their talent to Bach’s music.
The soloists and ensembles are conducted by Lluís Vilamajó (pictured), and two of Bach’s cantatas will be performed. At the time they were composed, Bach was the music director in Leipzig. The compositions are festive in character and prominently feature trumpets and timpani drums.
The concert program includes the cantatas Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (“Praise God in His Kingdom”), BWV 11, from 1735, and Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele (“Praise the Lord, my soul”), BWV 69, from 1748. It also includes the motet Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden (“Praise the Lord, all nations”), BWV 230, a four-part polyphonic work.
After the opening concert, more events follow (some already sold out), including a performance by violist Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir (making her festival debut), with Vladimir Waltham (baroque cello) and Halldór Bjarki Halldórsson (harpsichord), performing sonatas by Bach, Pisendel, and Telemann at La Fàbrica Lliure in Gràcia.
The friendship and influence of Johann Christian Bach (one of Bach’s sons) on Mozart is the theme of the July 17 concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana. Works include Symphony in G minor, Op.6, No.6 (J.C. Bach), Adagio and Fugue K.546 (Mozart), and Symphony No. 92 (Joseph Haydn), performed by the National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia, conducted by Catherine Manson, who is also concertmaster.
A dramatized documentary film by François Girard, about Canadian pianist Glenn Gould and his famous interpretation of the Goldberg Variations, will be shown on July 18 at the Filmoteca, in the session Univers Goldberg (I). Want more? In Univers Goldberg (II), you can hear the Goldberg Variations performed... on an accordion. French accordionist Fanny Vicens will perform on July 21 at the Museum of Music.
The influence of French music on Bach is the theme of the July 22 session, with Fahmi Alqhai (viola da gamba and musical direction), Johanna Rose and Rami Alqhai (viola da gamba), and Javier Núñez (harpsichord), performing works by Marin Marais, François Couperin, Charles Dieupart, and Bach.
A new film session on July 23 links the worlds of Bach and filmmaker Ingmar Bergman with a screening of Saraband (2003), a film structured like a musical piece. During the screening, there will be a live artistic intervention by cellist Daniel Claret.
The festival resumes on September 16 at the Museum of Music, with a performance by Salvat Beca Bach Soloists (Maëlys Robinne, soprano, and Lara Morger, alto), along with the Bachcelona Consort.
The final concert, on December 30, closes the festival and the year at the German-speaking Lutheran Church on Brusi Street, featuring Bachcelona Consort and Salvat Soloists performing cantatas by Bach from 1725.
If you don’t want to miss any event of the Bachcelona Festival, check the full program on the website and get your tickets.