A word from the artistic directors of the 2005 Bach Festival
It is with great pleasure that we unveil the inaugural festival of the Bach-Académie de Montréal. Assembled through the unprecedented collaboration of every major early music ensemble in Montréal, this new Festival brings together the best our city and province have to offer. In addition to the extensive representation from Quebec, we are very proud to be able to present several international figures in this first Festival as well, including Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln, Frieder Bernius, Klaus Mertens and Ingrid Schmithüsen.
From the monumental Christmas Oratorio and Mass in b minor to the sublime Trauerode and early cantata Actus Tragicus, the Festival will present over 16 major performances, an all-day symposium, several public lectures, and most importantly, an arena for the music of Bach to be performed, studied and discovered anew within the atmosphere of this new international Festival.
Focusing on the issue of rhetoric and meaning, and benefiting from the past 20 years of Bach scholarship, we, individually and collectively, are in eager anticipation of this coming November and invite all of our friends in the concertgoing public to join us in celebrating the unique genius of J. S. Bach.
