Early Music Festival

21-25 January 2015

From 21 to 25 January 2015, the Palace of Arts will hold its first Early Music Festival with the focus on Bach and Mendelssohn, inspired by Bach. At the opening concert on 21 January, Collegium Vocale Gent Choir and Orchestra will perform Bach’s monumental Mass in B minor with renowned soloists and Philippe Herreweghe, one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors of the style. The next day, 22 January, will witness a premiere in Hungary with Mendelssohn’s 1841 arrangement of St. Matthew’s Passion performed on instruments of the period. The festival will feature Felix Mendelssohn, who introduced the practice of performing music from old periods in concert halls, as a “co-author” of other pieces. At the second chamber concert on 25 January Rita Papp and Zsolt Kalló will perform his arrangement of Chaconne in D minor for the violin and piano. (At the 23 January chamber concert Maude Gratton will play works by Bach on the cembalo. On the same day, Miklós Spányi and Concerto Armonico will perform pieces by Johann Sebastian and Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach). The event series will close on 25 January with Mendelssohn’s oratorio Paulus featuring Collegium Vocale Gent Choir, Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra and outstanding soloists under the baton of Philippe Herreweghe.