Bath Bachfest 2019

I am delighted to invite you to the eighth Bath Bachfest. In this short but vibrant annual festival, produced by the team responsible for Bath Mozartfest, we aim to maintain the legacy of the long-running Bath Bach Festival – founded by Cuthbert Bates and later directed by his daughter Elizabeth, our Patron – by presenting the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his Baroque contemporaries in performances of the highest quality by specialist soloists and ensembles.

For our opening concert in St Mary’s Bathwick, we welcome the acclaimed vocal ensemble Stile Antico in a programme combining two well-known Bach motets with music by Bach’s great German predecessor Schütz, including the moving Musikalische Exequien. In our lunchtime concert at the Guildhall, the guitarist Xuefei Yang plays a delightful programme of two suites by Bach and dances by the Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz.

We have three concerts in the Assembly Rooms each devoted to a single composer. The Sixteen and Harry Christophers can be relied on to throw fresh light on an old favourite, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, not least by opting for its original Cannons version. And La Serenissima and its director Adrian Chandler will bring their infectious flair to a Saturday-morning programme of Vivaldi double concertos.

In the final concert Bach takes pride of place, with violinist Margaret Faultless leading the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in an outstanding programme including two of the orchestral suites and two concertos – one of them the wonderful Concerto for two violins.

I hope you will find something in our programme to appeal to you; if so, I recommend early booking to make sure of the best seats. My colleagues and I look forward to sharing the joy of great music and first-class music-making with you.

Amelia Freedman CBE FRAM
Artistic Director