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Bach Consort Wien, co-founded by Rubén Dubrovsky in 1999 in Vienna, has rapidly become one of Austria’s most significant Baroque ensembles. After a series of successful concerts in the Hofburgkapelle in Vienna and the Palais Eschenbach, the Bach Consort Wien found its artistic home in the Wiener Musikverein. In addition to numerous performances in the Vienna Musikverein, the ensemble is regularly present on concert stages and as in a number of important music festivals throughout Europe, including the ORF Radiokulturhaus, Osterklang Vienna, Palais Esterházy in Eisenstadt, Styriarte Graz, Brucknerhaus Linz and Feldkirch, Händelfestspiele/Halle, Festival Rhein Vokal, Schwetzingen (Germany), Winterthur (Switzerland), Ancona (Italy), Palau de la Musica Valencia, Palau de la Musica Barcelona (Spain) and Estoril Festival (Portugal). In November 2008, the Bach Consort Wien was the accompanying ensemble of the first Viennese “Countertenor Festival” in the Concert Hall of the Austrian National Radio.
The ensemble found its specific musical language in the intensive study and analysis of J.S. Bach’s work. The size of the ensemble varies according to the repertoire played and follows the principal “as small as still sense-making”. The resulting clarity, force of expression and personality are the particular characteristics of the Bach Consort Wien. The ensemble’s core repertoire is the work of J.S. Bach and in particular his vocal music ranging from solo cantatas to great choral and orchestral works such as the Passions, B minor Mass (BWV 232), Magnificat (BWV 243) and the Mottets. The rediscovery of works by important Baroque composers is a relevant aspect of the ensemble’s activity. In the aim of this spirit, Bach Consort Wien presented the first performance in modern times of the oratorio Christo nell’ Orto by Johann Joseph Fux, during the 2010 Fux anniversary as part of the Osterklang Wien and Psalm Graz festivals.
Easter music by the Vienna court composer Francesco Bartolomeo Conti with counter-tenor Franco Fagioli followed in 2012. The world premiere of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s La Maddalena al sepolcro at Ancona Cathedral in 2011, which Unitel Classica recorded as part of its cycle of the complete works by G.B. Pergolesi on DVD, was another milestone achieved by the ensemble. And, in 2013, Rubén Dubrovsky’s first edition of the opera seria Polifemo, a masterpiece y Nicola Porpora, was presented at the Theater an der Wien with great success.
Soloists including Yetzabel Arias, Kirsten Blaise, Florian Boesch, Gianluca Buratto, Veronica Cangemi, Christophe Coin, Theresa Dlouhy, Bernarda Fink, Antonio Giovannini, Erich Höbarth, Christian Immler, Daniel Johannsen, Robin Johannsen, Emma Kirkby, Joanne Lunn, Carlos Mena, Kristin Mulders, Georg Nigl, Yeree Suh, Terry Wey, Deborah York, have already performed as guests with the ensemble.
The ensemble’s concerts have been broadcasted by ARTE, ORF (Austrian national radio and television), HR, SWR (South West German radio), MDR and Catalunya Música.
Future projects include J.S. Bach’s G Major Mass, Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), St John’s Passion (BWV 245) and Brandenburg Concertos (BWV 1046-1051), an Oratorio from the Austrian composer Johann Joseph Fux Cristo nell’orto at the Festivals Osterklang and Psalm 2010 as well as a first time great classical oratorio, The Seasons by Joseph Haydn. Concerts will take the Bach Consort Wien and invited guests such as Patricia Petibon, Veronica Cangemi, Bernarda Fink, Mariselle Martínez, Kirsten Blaise, Yeree Suh, Terry Wey and Florian Boesch to Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France and Austria. |
