Bachfest Leipzig inspires 75,000 visitors: a festival of transformation!

Bachfest Leipzig inspires 75,000 visitors: a festival of transformation!

This year's Bach Festival in Leipzig, which had the motto “Transformation”, has once again made the city a meeting place for music lovers from all over the world. With over 200 events that took place from June 12th to 23rd, the festival attracted around 75,000 visitors from 53 nations, which corresponds to a remarkable occupancy rate of more than 90 percent. The festival's director, Michael Maul, was very satisfied with the course and presentation of the diverse programs.

How Deutschlandfunk culture reported, the last performance of the Mass in B minor took place on Sunday evening in the famous St. Thomas Church. This final concert is another tradition of the festival and attracts large crowds every year. The representatives of the choirs and orchestras presented at the festival - a total of around 3,500 participants, including 38 choirs and almost 1,800 singers - contributed impressively to the festive atmosphere with their efforts.

A look at history and the future

The Bach Festival, which was first launched in 1904 for the New Bach Society, has been a permanent highlight in the event calendar since 1999 under the organization of the Bach Archive in Leipzig. Every year the festival is dedicated to a new theme, and the next one is already on the program in 2024: “CHORal TOTAL”. As Wikipedia mentions, the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750, making the city a center of Bach interpretation.

But not only the traditional concerts and performances are part of the festival, but also innovative formats such as the “Virtual Bach Experience” concert, which enabled a virtual encounter with Bach. This modern approach represents an exciting contrast to the master's legacy, which was also brought to life under the motto “Transformation”. The positive response to this concept shows that the way of integrating new technologies into culture has been well received.

An outlook

Director Michael Maul, whose contract was extended for a further five years, has impressively proven that he has a good knack for program design. According to him, this year's selection reflects the remarkable changes in Bach's work and invites you to engage intensively with his work. The next Bach Festival will take place from June 11th to 21st, 2024, and expectations are already high.

In summary, it can be said that the Bach Festival 2025 was a complete success. The combination of tradition and innovation not only thrilled the audience, but also made Johann Sebastian Bach's musical legacy appear in a new light. A year full of anticipation for the next edition is coming up!