Bach Festivals & Cantata Series
Bach:Sommer

Name:

Bach:Sommer (Bach Summer)

Location:

Arnstadt & Wandersleben, Thuringia, Germany

Venues:

Oberkirche, Arnstadt
Bachkirche, Arnstadt
Pfarrhof, Arnstadt
St. Petri, Wandersleben

Years:

2011-2015 (Annual Festival)

Months:

August

Artistic Director:

Joshua Rifkin

Ensembles:

2011: The Bach Ensemble
2012: Vox Luminis, early music soloist ensemble
2013: The Bach Ensemble and Vox Luminis
2014: The Bach Ensemble and Vox Luminis

Website:

Bach:Sommer in Arnstadt und Wandersleben (Official Website) [German]
Bach:Sommer on Facebook

History & Mission:

The Bach:Sommer held annually since 2011 around the second weekend in August Arnstadt and the nearby Wandersleben under the artistic direction of conductor and musicologist Joshua Rifkin. The Bach:Sommer is in consequence of Joshua Rifkin's research results for a historical and solo performance practice. Under his direction work internationally staffed ensembles in residence each program (see above).
Public rehearsals, meetings with the artists at the Pfarrhof and a summer festival bind the public and the Arnstadt-people closely in the Festival.
Initial ignition of Bach:Sommer in 2009 was a concert of the Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz (German Foundation for Monument Protection) and the Deutschlandfunks (Germany Radio) to support the rehabilitation of the early Gothic Oberkirche. The Oberkirche was the house church of the ruling Schwarzburger and main church of the city at the latest upon receipt of a new organ in 1611. During these years the Arnstadt Church, Court and Ratsmusik took those recovery, which culminated three generations later in the work of J.S. Bach. The Bach:Sommer with Oberkirche and Pfarrhof in the center has explicitly taken on the task of keeping not only his work, but also to revive the early Baroque works of J.S. Bach's ancestors and pioneers.
The Bach:Sommer is a festival on the original historic site. Venues are, inter alia, the Bachkirche, Oberkirche, Pfarrhof in Arnstadt and St. Petri in Wandersleben, the Baptistery of the Baroque poet Christian Friedrich Hunold (Menantes), whose texts J.S. Bach set to music in some works.
Bach:Sommer has effectively ceased operations. Following years of financial challenges, the volunteer-run festival canceled its 2017 events and announced that they did not have a stable enough financial foundation to continue in the future.

Recent Festivals:

1^st Festival: Aug 11-14, 2011
2^nd Festival: Aug 8-11, 2012
3^rd Festival: Aug 5-8, 2013
4^th Festival: Aug 7-10, 2014
5^th Festival: Aug 6-9, 2015
The Festival is no longer active

Logo: