Mahan Esfahani and the Britten Sinfonia's season-long Bach concerto cycle concludes tonight, 12th June 2024, at Wigmore Hall.
Directed from their instruments by Esfahani and violinist Jackie Shave, the ensemble performed in venues around the UK throughout the 23/24 season, including three dates at London's Wigmore Hall, Saffron Hall, the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, and Esfahani's Glyndebourne debut for the Brighton Festival.
Programmes on the tour explored the origins and inspirations for Bach's complete keyboard concertos, as well as anonymous works attributed to Bach, and a reconstruction/completion of Bach's Concerto No. 8 BWV 1059R by Esfahani himself, and further complementary music by Johann Rosenmüller of the previous generation to Bach, and works by contemporaries Vivaldi and Telemann.
The concerts were praised in reviews as "a revelation: textures were crystal clear, counterpoint suddenly made complete sense", "a concert of wonder after wonder", "Bach of the finest order", "music by the man himself could hardly ask for finer performances"
The ensemble plan to record the complete Bach keyboard concertos for future release. You can find ways to support the recording here.
