Early Music

Rencontre avec Laurent Pelly

NDR Barock / Dorothee Oberlinger / Hansjörg Albrecht

With Dorothee Oberlinger, the International Bach Festival Hamburg has invited a real shooting star for early music. The recorder player and conductor is one of today’s leading international figures in the field of early music and has been honoured with numerous national and international music awards. She is coming to the International Bachfest Hamburg 2025 with very different works in her luggage.

Buxtehude: »Membra Jesu Nostri« Cantata Cycle

Vocal ensemble Voces Suaves, praised for its emotionally direct interpretations of early music, enriches Lent on Maundy Thursday with an exceptional work by baroque composer Dietrich Buxtehude: the cantata cycle »Membra Jesu nostri« reflects the dramatic scene of the crucifixion of Jesus and combines biblical texts with medieval, extremely vivid poetry. The singers are accompanied by baroque violin star Amandine Beyer and her ensemble. Each of the related seven cantatas focuses on a part of Jesus’ body, starting with his feet right up to his heart and face. Buxtehude’s most comprehensive oratorio work wonderfully depicts adoring devotion and love alternately from instrumental symphonies, polyphonic sections and poignant arias for each of the five singers. Voces Suaves, founded in 2012 by students of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis – one of the best universities in the world for early music – is still based in Basel, Switzerland. The singers make music without any fixed artistic direction – the creativity and initiative of all of its members feed equally into their programmes. Also experts in early music are the musicians who joined forces around violinist Amandine Beyer in Gli Incogniti. The ensemble director gives concerts in numerous projects and teaches as a professor at the very university where the members of Voces Suaves got to know each other.

Gypsy

Performed here for the first time in France, the musical Gypsy—based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee —is presented in a version created by one of the great masters in musical and opera staging, Laurent Pelly.

Bach's St John Passion

Laurence Cummings and AAM bring an Easter tradition to life: a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion.

Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam sings Bach's St Matthew Passion

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Gypsy

Performed here for the first time in France, the musical Gypsy—based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee —is presented in a version created by one of the great masters in musical and opera staging, Laurent Pelly.

Bach: St John Passion

The »St John Passion« is one of the most important and moving compositions in the history of music. In the 300 years since its premiere, it has not lost its emotional impact with which Johann Sebastian Bach set to music the suffering of Jesus Christ. Composed for Good Friday in 1724, this great work now sounds on the same bank holiday at the Elbphilharmonie. The period ensemble Pygmalion plays under the direction of its conductor Raphaël Pichon. At nine years old, the French Pichon sang the »St John Passion« for the first time – a crucial experience for the singer and conductor. For many years, Bach’s music remained and forms the core repertoire of the Pygmalion ensemble, which Pichon established in 2007. Historically informed and always with a fresh look at the music, these concerts are hailed by audiences and critics. The musicians play instruments which originate from the time of the Passion or were replicated and ensure a unique listening experience. Renowned tenor Julian Prégardien is also involved in the role of the evangelist.

Haydn: Salve Regina and Stabat Mater

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

lautten compagney BERLIN: "Der Tod Jesu"

For many years, Carl Heinrich Graun's "The Death of Jesus" was a staple of Berlin's concert life, performed nearly continuously during Easter since its 1755 premiere. By the late 19th century, Bach's Passions eclipsed Graun's oratorio, leading to its obscurity. This Sophienkirche concert, part of the 2025 Easter Festival, offers a rediscovery of this forgotten masterpiece.

The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands: St Matthew Passion

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Gypsy

Performed here for the first time in France, the musical Gypsy—based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee —is presented in a version created by one of the great masters in musical and opera staging, Laurent Pelly.

The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands: St Matthew Passion

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Chor Hamburg / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin / Hansjörg Albrecht

The Magnificat by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, in which Mary expresses her love for God, but in which Mary is also celebrated as the epitome of love among mankind, forms the jubilant prelude to the final concert of this year’s International Bach Festival Hamburg with its youthful fire. In this concert, father and son face each other. Can the younger one stand up to the comparison with the older one? Can the son emancipate himself from the father with whom he was trained and learnt? The performers for this musical comparison are the Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Choir Hamburg, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Hansjörg Albrecht.

The Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands: St Matthew Passion

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!

Johann Sebastian Bach / Oratorio de Pâques

For Easter Monday, Bach’s Oratorio for the holiday written exactly 300 years ago. Conductor Christophe Rousset leads Les Talens Lyriques in a score they know well.

Sir András Schiff

András Schiff is a master of the Germanic repertoire, especially the works of Bach, which he has performed tirelessly for half a century. He now tackles The Art of Fugue, a score as monumental as it is enigmatic.

Georg Friedrich Haendel / Airs allemands

For the most English of German-born composers, these intimate arias composed between 1724 and 1726 were an ode to his origins. A concentrate of grace, with Les Arts Florissants stripped down to its chamber formation, and soloists Rowan Pierce and James Way.

Orchestre de Paris / Jukka-Pekka Saraste

In response to the Brahmsian drama, marked by mystery and wildness, we have one of Sibelius's most optimistic compositions. And between the two, these last songs, which are not just those of Strauss's, but a “farewell” to Romantic song.

Avant-scènes

Orchestre de Paris / Jukka-Pekka Saraste

In response to the Brahmsian drama, marked by mystery and wildness, we have one of Sibelius's most optimistic compositions. And between the two, these last songs, which are not just those of Strauss's, but a “farewell” to Romantic song.

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Mikko Franck

Anouar Brahem

Esteemed Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem—an eminent member of the ECM label—takes the stage to present his new album After the Last Sky, recorded with an international quartet and featuring shimmering, ethereal compositions.

Anouar Brahem

Esteemed Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem—an eminent member of the ECM label—takes the stage to present his new album After the Last Sky, recorded with an international quartet and featuring shimmering, ethereal compositions.

Sebastian Rochford & Kit Downes

Drummer and composer Sebastian Rochford—a creative fixture in the contemporary British jazz scene—brings to the stage A Short Diary, a superb album of mourning and tribute recorded for ECM with pianist Kit Downes.

Avishai Cohen Quartet / Shai Maestro Trio

This concert brings together two remarkable Israeli musicians, both based in New York, each cultivating jazz in perfect pitch with the ECM label: trumpeter Avishai Cohen, at the head of his quartet, and pianist Shai Maestro, with his trio.

Renaud Capuçon / Igor Levit

A long-awaited collaboration between celebrated French violinist Renaud Capuçon and the always-ambitious piano virtuoso Igor Levit. Together, they tackle Brahms’ three Sonatas for Violin and Piano—a concentration of poetry, brilliance and heroism.

La basse de viole Pitts 1679

Arvo Pärt

For over forty years, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, founded by Tönu Kaljuste, has been the preferred interpreter of Northern European choral music, especially that of its compatriot Arvo Pärt, which it has helped to spread around the globe.