The opening concert of the Bach Festival 2021 Dordrecht foresees a special combination: early music with B'Rock Orchestra combined with contemporary work performed by Ensemble KLANG. Two timeless works by Bach are put next to Brian Eno and Michael Gordon. A thunderous whirlwind of different musical styles and eclectic influences, in which old and new seamlessly blend together. And to top it all off, soprano Claron McFadden will sing the world premiere of a new work by composer Anthony Fiumara.

Beethoven's first symphony still stands firmly in the rhetorical tradition of the eighteenth century. This is why it is right up our alley!

The great themes of life invariably lead to great art. And what themes could be more essential than life and death? The foundations of our existence, the mystery of life and death, have been the source of creative impulse for countless composers.

Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Schubert’s Ninth Symphony. Sometimes it just doesn’t get any better. Both works are like glorious closing chords: splendid and all-encompassing, the grand crowning, in this case not of a composition, but of two oeuvres.

Four outstanding early music virtuosos offer exciting new Händel interpretations with improvisational bravado and together with B’Rock they launch Lee Santana’s outlandish Hendrix variations.

Vivaldi versus Händel – southern eccentricity versus Nordic piety, playful Italian virtuosity versus strict German counterpoint. Or not? It’s not that simple. In a programme of fascinating contrasts and surprising connections, you will discover what the two composers have in common, and what distinguishes them.

In Mea Culpa, choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui explores a shared sense of guilt of inequality, discrimination, colonization and slavery that is passed on from generation to generation and has an impact that is felt even today.

At a time of global concern about the climate and ever louder calls for action, we are looking back at the experience of nature in the age of baroque music. We are doing this on the basis of Neun Deutsche Arien, a superb song-cycle composed by Georg Friedrich Händel and new music by Wim Henderickx

Together with B’Rock and a colourful cast of singers and actors, Hungarian director David Marton gets to the root of the age-old story and adds a chapter to it. The new music from composer and guitarist Kalle Kalima builds a bridge between the 17th and the 21st centuries. 

Together mandolin soloist Avi Avital and orchestra inject a solid dose of flair and verve into the fiery concertos of Italian baroque composers.