The English Bach Festival was an annual UK classical music festival which ran from 1963 to 2009. It was founded by the Greek-born harpsichordist and singer

Lina Lalandi Lina Lalandi OBE or Lina Madeleine Lalandi-Emery (born Lina Madeleine Yeleki Kaloyeropoulou on 8 June 1920 – 2012) was a Greek harpsichordist and singer known for founding and directing the English Bach Festival. Life Lalandi-Emery was born ...

(1920–2012) and the English musicologist

Jack Westrup Sir Jack Westrup (26 July 190421 April 1975) was an English musicologist, writer, teacher and occasional conductor and composer. Biography Jack Allan Westrup was the second of the three sons of George Westrup, insurance clerk, of Dulwich, and his ...

who were co-directors during the festival's early years in Oxford. In 1971, Lalandi became the sole director and the festival was primarily based in London. The festival's early programmes had been largely based on

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

's music—the

St John Passion The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...

conducted by Karl Richter was a highlight of one of the early festivals. However, from the outset the festival also presented music by modern composers. Lalandi wrote in 1963 that the festival would also include "20th-century composers whose way of thinking is nearer to ach'sthan to that of the Romantic age." The first festival focused on Bach's early cantatas, including two of his secular cantatas staged in costume, but also presented the world premiere of

Nikos Skalkottas Nikos Skalkottas ( el, Νίκος Σκαλκώτας; 21 March 1904 – 19 September 1949) was a Greek composer of 20th-century classical music. A member of the Second Viennese School, he drew his influences from both the classical repert ...

's Unaccompanied Violin Sonata.

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

conducted a concert of his own works at the 1964 festival, and the festival went on to present the first UK performances of works by Xenakis,

Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

, Ligeti and

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century. His m ...

. By the late 1970s, the EBF had primarily become an international opera company focusing on rarely performed operas of the baroque era which were performed with period instruments, authentic costumes and sets, and singers using historically informed movement and gesture. From 1977 the EBF presented an annual guest night at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

. Amongst the opera performances presented in its final years were Gluck's '' Telemaco'' given in both London and Athens in 2003, Rameau's ''

Platée ''Platée'' is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d'Orville. Rameau bought the rights to the libretto ''Platée ou Junon jalouse'' (''Plataea, or Juno Jealous'') by Jacques Autr ...

'' given in Athens in 2006, and Monteverdi's ''

Orfeo Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015. History The Orfeo music label was registered ...

'' given in London in 2007. The last festival performance was Handel's '' Alceste'' given at the

Banqueting House In English architecture, mainly from the Tudor period onwards, a banqueting house is a separate pavilion-like building reached through the gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining, especially eating. Or it may be buil ...

in London in 2009. The opera had never been performed in Handel's lifetime and had been premiered by the EBF in 1989.McCarthy, Peter (8 July 2012)
"Obituary: Lina Lalandi"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Retrieved 4 October 2016.

References

Further reading