Bachfest MunichOn the Way to Bach in Bavaria

Johann Sebastian Bach enjoyed making music together with his sizeable family and with friends. In this spirit, the first participatory Bach Festival takes a unique approach to celebrating the experience of making music together in Munich and throughout Bavaria in 2025.

At the mention of Johann Sebastian Bach, we think of preludes, cantatas, oratorios, toccatas and, not least, the Well-Tempered Clavier. But his musical universe has so much more to offer, as the 70 or so organisations taking part in the participatory Bachfest Munich will set out to prove with around 200 events throughout Bavaria.

At the 100th anniversary Bachfest in Munich, professionals and amateurs from Iffeldorf to Augsburg and Bayreuth will interpret Bach’s extensive oeuvre in manifold ways, clocking up hundreds of hours of Bach. Comprising a range of formats, which include novelties and the occasional surprise, the varied festival programme is the perfect opportunity for getting to know Johann Sebastian Bach and his work.  While the music takes centre stage, you can expect other kinds of events, too.

If you want to take part in the festival, you can still get in touch at partner@bachfest.info.

The Gasteig HP8 is the festival centre

As well as being one of the initiators of the Bachfest, the Gasteig HP8 also acts as the festival centre. “Our aim is to create a space to experience Bach from a completely different perspective in addition to the classic formats here at the Gasteig HP8,” says Gasteig Managing Director Stephanie Jenke. And she means this quite literally: For ten days, in a container on the grounds of the Gasteig HP8, you can don VR glasses and headphones and immerse yourself in the 18th century. In the “Virtual Himmelsburg”, Bach fans can experience the world of Johann Sebastian Bach, travel to the no longer existent “Himmelsburg” chapel of Weimar palace and listen to Bach’s cantata Himmelskönig, sei willkommen.

With its inclusive multimedia concert, Duo Arima proves that sitting still in your seat does not have to be compulsory while listening to a performance. In their relaxed performance, the two musicians play works by Bach and others in a relaxed atmosphere and seated in the midst of the audience, as they broach the subject of how we deal with our fears. The Gasteig’s resident institutes, too, join the fray: with a performance of the St Matthew Passion by students of the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts in the Isarphilharmonie; with lectures by the Münchner Volkshochschule adult education centre on works of the literary Baroque; and with communal singing of Bach at Sunday Song.

The festival’s initiators are Anna Kleeblatt, a Munich-based cultural manager; Hansjörg Albrecht, a conductor and concert organist as well as artistic director of the Munich Bach Choir until 2023; and Stephanie Jenke, the Managing Director of Gasteig München GmbH. Cafe Luitpold in the heart of Munich is the official festival café and a meeting place for audience and performers. Bach will be played here live on the piano twice a day throughout the festival, including by students of the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts.

The festival programme at the Gasteig takes place with the kind support of Motel One.