The Seattle Bach Festival goes on the road!
In partnership with Artful Journeys and The Cantata Trail, we want to extend to you an invitation to join a trip to the 2026 edition of Bachfest Leipzig, which will run June 11-21, 2026 in Leipzig, Germany – Bach’s stomping grounds for most of his life.
The full program of the festival hasn’t been announced yet, but a preview is here. Next year’s festival motto is “In Dialog”, referring to the main attraction of the program: a series of 12 concerts which will feature a “hit parade” of Bach’s 50 most loved cantatas, according to the votes of more than 6000 members of the festival’s worldwide audience. These concerts will be performed by some of the biggest names in Bach performance today: Ton Koopman, Philippe Herreweghe, John Eliot Gardiner, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Rudolf Lutz, Lionel Meunier, and their respective ensembles.
Rounding out the cantata “hit parade”, other concerts include the Clavier-Übung parts I, II and IV performed by Andras Schiff on the piano and Mahan Esfahani on the harpsichord (take your pick or compare and contrast!), Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout on the violin sonatas, the viola da gamba sonatas by Lucile Boulanger and Pierre Hantaï, and the cello suites by Mario Brunello. There’s also music by Keiser, Buxtehude, Bach family members, Vivaldi, Händel, and more. And as is traditional, the festival closes with Bach’s monumental Mass in B minor, performed this year by the Thomanerchor and the Academy for Early Music Berlin, conducted by the present day’s Thomaskantor, Andreas Reize.
In addition to the concert tickets, Artful Journey’s festival packages include accommodations, most meals, an excursion, attendance to one rehearsal, a guided tour of the Bach Museum, and several “Cantata Trail” workshops led by Miguel Rodé. There are 3 ways to curate your concert schedule, some including priority seating. Learn more on AJ’s website.
As you can imagine, organizing a group trip to a festival of this scale is quite complex. Space is limited and concert tickets sell out fast! Please reserve your spot by September 30, 2025. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience Bach’s music performed by world-class artists, in the venues where the pieces were first heard, and share it all with thousands of fellow Bach enthusiasts.