A Bach festival is a music festival held to celebrate the memory of the German composer

Johann Sebastian 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 wo ...

(1685–1750). Various locations throughout the world hold festivals dedicated to Bach. A notable example is the

Bachfest Leipzig The Bachfest Leipzig (Leipzig Bach Festival) is a music festival which takes place annually, in the month of June, in the city of Leipzig, where J. S. Bach worked as the Thomaskantor from 1723 until his death in 1750. The current artistic directo ...

, held each year in the city of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, where the composer worked as Thomaskantor for the last 27 years of his life.

Historical festivals

Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival

The

Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music The Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music is part of the Baldwin Wallace University, in Berea, Ohio. The main building is Kulas Hall. The Conservatory is home to the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach Festival in the United ...

Baldwin Wallace University Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace C ...

is home to the BW Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach festival in the nation. The festival was founded in 1932 by Professor Albert Riemenschneider (longtime director of the College Conservatory) and his wife Selma. The then Baldwin-Wallace Festival Choir and Orchestra presented the first Bach Festival in June 1933 and has continued since then. The oldest Bach Festival, The Bethlehem, and Baldwin Wallace performed together for BW's 75th anniversary of the festival.

Winter Park Bach Festival

The Bach Festival Society was founded in 1935 at Rollins College to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's birth by presenting the composer's orchestral and choral music to the public "for its enlightenment, education, pleasure, and enjoyment" at Knowles Memorial Chapel. Isabelle Sprague-Smith, a former New York artist and school principal, was the president and driving force behind the Bach Festival from 1935 until her death in 1950. At Sprague-Smith's death, the future of the Bach Festival was uncertain. Rollins President Hugh F. McKean (husband to Jeannette Genius McKean) asked John M. Tiedtke, the treasurer of the College, to fulfill the obligation and he accepted. Tiedtke served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees until his death in December 2004. The festival has been presented each year since 1935, and has expanded to a multi-week event including chamber music, lectures, master classes, and community events.

Notable Bach festivals

* Bach in the Subways * Bach Music Festival of Canada *

Bachwoche Ansbach The Bachwoche Ansbach (Ansbach Bach Week) is a biennial music festival in Ansbach, Germany, dedicated to the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach, held since 1947. The main venues are the Orangerie and the great hall of the palace Residenz Ansb ...

* Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival * Carmel Bach Festival *

English Bach Festival 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 (1920–2012) and the English musicologist Jack Westrup who were co-directors d ...

Kennedy, Michael and Kennedy, Joyce Bourne (1996
"English Bach Festival"
''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved online via Encyclopedia.com 4 October 2016 *

Oregon Bach Festival Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) is an annual celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his musical legacy, held in Eugene, Oregon, United States, in late June and early July. About the festival The festival's programming is three-fold. It ...

* Thüringer Bachwochen * Tilford Bach Festival * The WQXR All-Day Bach Organ Marathon * Bachfestival Antwerpen * Bachfestival Dordrecht

References

External links