Alexandros Kapelis and the Berliner Barock Solisten recording in Berlin Emil Studios – photo by Jeremy Tressler
The Berliner Barock Solisten and pianist Alexandros Kapelis come together to perform all six of Bach’s concertos for solo keyboard and orchestra in an extraordinary concert at London’s Barbican Centre on Monday 29 May.
This is a rare opportunity to experience these Bach masterpieces together in a performance which promises excellence of the highest order.
Comprised of virtuosic soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berliner Barock Solisten are dedicated to performing music of the 17th and 18th centuries on modern instruments, strongly informed by the rich experience and knowledge of historical performance practice developed in the musical world over recent decades.
They are joined by the dynamic and acclaimed virtuoso Alexandros Kapelis, making his Barbican debut in this concert. Martha Argerich describes him as a pianist who ‘plays the classics with astonishing taste’. Kapelis’s performance of these works by Bach was also described by conductor Christian Thielemann as ‘art at its very greatest made to seem effortless’.
The landmark London date is part of a tour which also takes in Leipzig’s famous Thomaskirche – where Bach lived, worked and is buried – and the Salle Gaveau in Paris (28 May and 30 May). Further performances in Europe and Asia will follow.
Kapelis and the Berliner Barock Solisten have also recorded the complete set of Bach keyboard concertos with an award-winning production team. This will be the first recording of the entire set of works in nearly two decades, and Kapelis joins an elite handful of only five pianists – Glenn Gould, Andrei Gavrilov, Vladimir Feltsman, Murray Perahia and Angela Hewitt – to release such a collection.
Alexandros Kapelis says “The first time I heard this music I was 12. This was on a radio programme in Peru, where I spent part of my childhood. I would have never imagined that one day I would be playing these works with the Berliner Barock Solisten. Collaborating with them on these intimate recordings and performances is a great privilege. They have been chosen from thousands of musicians who dream to be part of the legendary Berlin orchestra, and bring an incredible level of excellence, discipline, and perfection”.
Violinist Raimar Orlovsky, the engine behind the Berliner Barock Solisten, says “It is a great pleasure to come back to London after more than 14 years for this Barbican concert. This exciting collaboration with pianist Alexandros Kapelis, with his unusual musical empathy and extraordinary clarity, brings us back with the incredible six-keyboard-concerto cycle of Johann Sebastian Bach. For a baroque orchestra it is one of the most important cycles to play besides the six Brandenburg Concertos, Handel’s Concerti Grossi, and Telemann’s Tafelmusik. We hope that the audience enjoys hearing the music as much as we have enjoyed working on it together”.