Opening Concert

From the end is the beginning: the feeling of the end of time is transformed into hope in these motets by Johann Sebastian Bach and his cousin Johann Christoph Bach. In a change from the way in which these are often heard Václav Luks and his ensemble from Prague fill out these choral works with strings and wind instruments.

Cantata BWV 70 is one of Bach’s most dramatic compositions and with its moving and emotionally searing arias forms a bridge to the Passions and the 1725 version of the St John Passion (which can also be heard in the Festival).  After a striking description of the last judgement the concert ends with a hopeful celebratory final movement