Bach Festivals & Cantata Series
Nederlandse Bachvereniging: All of Bach

Name:

All of Bach

Location:

Naarden, the Netherlands

Venues:

Grote Kerk in Naarden

Years:

Since 2014 (Concert Series)

Months:

Many concerts along the year

Artistic Director:

Jos van Veldhoven

Ensembles:

Nederlandse Bachvereniging

Website:

Nederlandse Bachvereniging: All of Bach (Official Website) [Dutch]
All of Bach [Dutch/English]
Trailer 1 [YouTube] | Trailer 2 [YouTube]

History & Mission:

The Netherlands Bach Society: Bach’s complete works online free of charge

On May 2, 20014, just before the concert by the Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Netherlands Bach Society) in the Grote Kerk in Naarden, the online platform allofbach.com will go live. All of Bach is an exceptional and ambitious project of the Nederlandse Bachvereniging. The ensemble started performing and recording all of J.S. Bach's works in September 2013. The first concert recordings will be made available on allofbach.com on 2 May, followed by a new Bach recording every Friday. All recordings and other content are available free of charge; the project is being financed by private gifts and fund donations.

Allofbach.com

The Nederlandse Bachvereniging is launching allofbach.com to give the millions of people who type ‘Bach’ into their search engines every day a place where they will find inspiration and enrichment. On this online platform, each piece of music by Bach will have its own page where they can choose: the recording, interviews, background information or audience reactions. Site visitors can watch and listen to every single piece in its entirety. Musicians will talk about what the music does for them. Some of them have spent half their lives with this music and have many, many stories to tell. Background information is provided for each work and all the facts about the recording are compactly summarised. The public section of the site has space for reactions from listeners. The bilingual platform (Dutch and English) was developed by Fabrique, which also made the new website for the Rijksmuseum.

Why All of Bach?

Because the Nederlandse Bachvereniging is looking forward to celebrating its first 100 years in the 2021-2022 season, the idea emerged to perform all of Bach’s work. To stay close to Bach, the Nederlandse Bachvereniging performs J.S. Bach's music in hand-picked locations: cantatas in a church, chamber music in living rooms, and so on. Because the singers were looking for a way to reach as many people as possible, they turned their eyes to the new media. “In this way we can involve people in the way we work and let them discover how you can make Bach sound. It’s a gift to the world. Because whether you live in South Korea and are practising the Minuet in G minor for the first time or you live in Appingedam and are fascinated by four-part fugues, you are just a few mouse clicks away from the information you are looking for,” says artistic director Jos van Veldhoven.

Netherlands Bach Society

The Netherlands Bach Society has figured prominently in Dutch cultural life for many years. It started out in 1921 with a performance of J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) in the Grote Kerk in Naarden. They purposely chose a church as a pendant to Willem Mengelberg’s performances in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The ensemble grew into a leading musical society with a flexible basis. They still perform Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) every year in the Grote Kerk in Naarden. In addition, each season they give around forty concerts all over the Netherlands as well as abroad. Jos van Veldhoven has been the artistic director since 1983.

See: List of Filmed & Recorded Works

Logo: