Breaking: Change of Conductor at the Concert of Monteverdi Choir at Bachfest 2024
Bachfest
Wed 24.4.24
Dear Bachfest visitors!
You have purchased tickets for the concert by Isabelle Faust, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir on 9 June in the Nikolaikirche.
As you may have heard from the media, Gardiner decided last autumn to take a sabbatical for the remainder of 2023. He has since extended his time away from public music-making, and therefore I am sorry to inform you that he will not be conducting the concert on 9 June. However, I am delighted that we have been able to find a suitable replacement to conduct the concerts: Jonathan Sells, the founder of the English vocal ensemble »Solomon's Knot« and himself a long-standing member of the Monteverdi Choir, will conduct the performances. In this context, it is necessary to change the planned programme slightly. The Monteverdi Choir and Isabelle Faust will continue to perform in dialogue, so to speak. However, as you can see from the overview below, the range of musical pieces will be slightly expanded: The first half of the concert will now also feature fantastically beautiful motets by J.S. Bach's forebears, contrasted by contemporary solo pieces for violin. Isabelle Faust will also play Bach's D minor Partita (with the legendary Chaconne) in the second half of the concert, which was not initially planned.
I am sure that this slightly altered programme, now under the direction of Jonathan Sells, will provide us all with a lasting musical experience. However, to thank you for your understanding we would like to give you the opportunity to attend another special Bachfest concert with your purchased ticket: On the evening before the concert, 8 June, the violinist Leonidas Kavakos will perform Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, also in the Nikolaikirche, at 10:30 pm, without any duplication with the works performed by Isabelle Faust. We have reserved the galleries of the Nikolaikirche for you with free seating. Simply arrive in good time before the concert at the two side entrances on the north and south sides of the Nikolaikirche. You will be admitted on presentation of your ticket for the Monteverdi Choir concert. You do not need a separate ticket for the Leonidas Kavakos concert on June 8.
In the hope that you will recognise our efforts to find the best possible solution for the necessary rescheduling of the concert, I send you my warmest greetings from Leipzig's Thomaskirchhof - and in anticipation of this year's Bachfest,
