Bach Festivals & Cantata Series
English Bach Festival

Name:

English Bach Festival (EBF)

Location:

Oxford, England, UK (1963-1978)
London, England, UK (since 1974)

Venues:

Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London

Years:

Since 1963 (Annual Festival); Last Festival: 2009

Months:

Spring/Summer

Artistic Director:

Lina Lalandi-Emery (1962-2009)

Ensembles:

Website:

http://www.ebf.org.uk/ [N/A]
MUSIC / If it's baroque, don't mend it: For 30 years the English Bach Festival has been sailing under false colours. Lina Lalandi admits all to Mark Pappenheim [The Independent)

History & Mission:

When the English Bach Festival (EBF) was established in 1962, its name was not inappropriate. Lina Lalandi, then a striking young Greek harpsichordist, decided to start her own festival and put Bach at the top of the menu. But realising, she said, that 'you can't live on champagne alone', she made the daring decision to leaven the mix with a little modern music. Launched in Oxford in 1963, the EBF almost immediately belied its name by becoming Britain's most adventurous new music festival, offering a blend of the Baroque and the contemporary that brought a dash of Continental colour to the insular British music scene.

One by one, Lina Lalandi lured all the leading lights of the European avant-garde over to Oxford. The 82-year-old Igor Stravinsky came in 1964 and two years later returned to conduct his Oedipus Rex and to become the festival's second president (Albert Schweitzer was the first). Lina Lalandi gave Xenakis his first major British exposure in 1966, brought Messiaen over in 1967, presented a four-day festival of Stockhausen in 1971 and premiered the works of Skalkottas, Ligeti, Lina Lalandi and many others across the years. Leonard Bernstein succeeded I. Stravinsky as president and conducted EBF forces in a classic recording of his predecessor's Symphony of Psalms.

Mark Pappenheim wrote in The Independent on July 17, 1993: “The English Bach Festival must be one of the biggest misnomers in musical history. It's not particularly English (though based in Belgravia, it's run by a Greek and spends most of its active life abroad), it doesn't do Bach, and it's certainly not a festival. What it is, and has been since the late 1970s, is an international opera company specialising in the recreation of the great 18^th-century masterpieces of Rameau, Handel and Co in all their original glory complete with period instruments, authentic costume and set designs, and historically-influenced movement and gesture. Since 1977 it has presented annual guest nights at Covent Garden, and it is there that it celebrates its 30^th anniversary tomorrow evening with a performance of Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride.”

Today the English Bach Festival is Annual series (spring/summer) of events in London. Bach and the music of his time (played on Baroque instruments) are featured. British composers have been commissioned and British premières of continental works have been given. Pioneers since 1977 as 'guest company' at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the English Bach Festival breathes life in to the operas of Purcell, George Frideric Handel, Lully, Rameau, Gluck and presents them with magnificent costumes, elegant dance and the period instruments for which they were written. It has given the opportunity to see great works outside the usual repertoire, many of them for the first time at the Opera House, including some premieres in our time.

Recent Festivals:

1^st Festival: Oxford: Jun 30-Jul 8, 1963
2^nd Festival: Oxford: Jun 25-Jul 5, 1964
3^rd Festival: Oxford: Jun 24-Jul 4, 1965
4^th Festival: Oxford: Jun 25-Jul 10, 1966
5^th Festival: Oxford: Jun 17-Jul 2, 1967
6^th Festival: Oxford: Jun 22-Jul 7, 1968
7^th Festival: Oxford: Jun 27-Jul 13, 1969
8^th Festival: Oxford: April 10-19, 1970
9^th Festival: Oxford: Apr 16-25, 1971; London: Apr 27-May 7, 1971
10^th Festival: Oxford: Apr 14-23, 1972; Apr 24-May 5, 1972
11^th Festival: Oxford: May 4-13, 1973
12^th Festival: Oxford: May 3-12, 1974
13^th Festival: Oxford Apr 16-May 11, 1975
14^th Festival: Oxford: May 14-23, 1976; London: Apr 28-May 16, 1976
15^th Festival: Oxford: May 14-22, 1977; London: Apr 24-May 9, 1977
16^th Festival: Oxford Jun 23-30, 1978

17^th Festival: London: Jul 18, 1979: J.P. Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie
18^th Festival: London: May 7, 1980
20^th Festival: London: May 14-23, 1982 (All Bach)
1989: London: G.F. Handel: Alceste
30^th Festival: Jul 5, 1992: London: C.W. Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride.
Dec 10, 1996: London: J.B. Lully/J.B. Molière: Le bourgeois gentilhomme; H. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
2000: London: G.F. Handel: Alceste
2003: London & Athens: C.W. Gluck: Telemaco
2006: Athens: J.P. Rameau: Platée
2007: London: C. Monteverdi: Orfeo
Dec 16, 2009: London: G.F. Handel: Alceste

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