Bach Festival 10 | 25 June 2026 – 3 July

June 5 - 11,2026

The Bach Festival, presented by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, marks this year a decade of activity – ten years of a vibrant and living encounter with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. As the only event in Israel to celebrate Bach’s birthday annually, in keeping with a tradition observed in many of the world’s cultural capitals, the festival brings leading artists from Israel and abroad to Jerusalem and offers a rich and in-depth exploration of Bach’s musical legacy.

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The festival shows

Magnificat
Philippe Pierlot (Belgium), conductor Keren Motseri (Netherlands), Liron Givoni, soprano Shaked Bar, alto Richard Resch (Germany), tenor Yoav Ayalon, bass Ripieno singers: Naomi Burla Levy, Yael Ander, Doreen Sassine, Yonathan Suissa, Amit Amar

Johann Sebastian Bach — Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066

Johann Sebastian Bach — Cantata No. 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (“Come, Savior of the Nations”)

Johann Sebastian Bach — Magnificat

For the 10th Bach Festival, the festival’s central concert is built around Bach’s Magnificat — a festive hymn of praise — alongside Cantata No. 61 and the First Orchestral Suite, all works of exaltation, gratitude, and splendor. The evening will be led by Belgian conductor Philippe Pierlot, one of today’s foremost Bach interpreters and leading figures in historically informed performance, in a special guest appearance in Israel with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra.
Megiddo Cultural Center, Ein HaShofet
26/06/26
13:00
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Recanati Hall, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
27/06/26
20:30
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Jerusalem International YMCA – Auditorium
28/06/26
20:00
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Bach – Then and Now
Conductors: David Shemer, Zvi Carmeli Jerusalem Academy of Music OrchestraConductors: David Shemer, Zvi Carmeli Jerusalem Academy of Music Orchestra

Georg Philipp Telemann – Orchestral Suite in E minor, TWV 55:e4 (Shemer)
Arvo Pärt – Homage über B-A-C-H (Carmeli)
Tzvi Avni – Bach in the East (Carmeli)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 (Shemer)

This concert offers an additional perspective on Bach’s long-lasting influence on composers across generations, cultures, and geographies. Particularly illuminating are the contrasting interpretations of the "Bachian spirit" in the works of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and Israeli composer Tzvi Avni, revealing the broad expressive range of Bach’s musical legacy and the differences between a Nordic and a Middle Eastern sensibility. Masterworks by Telemann and Bach himself provide both conceptual and structural frameworks for the program. The concert is another fruit of the ongoing collaboration between the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra and the Jerusalem Academy of Music – a partnership that unfolds throughout the year and reaches its annual culmination at the Jerusalem Bach Festival. In addition to the participation of academy musicians and ensembles in the festival for the third consecutive year, the orchestra is particularly proud of the pedagogical collaboration between these two leading Jerusalem institutions. Many of the international artists performing with the orchestra offer masterclasses to academy students, while members of the orchestra’s core ensemble regularly teach courses within the academy's Baroque workshop – continuing the long academic career of Prof. David Shemer, founder and musical director of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra.
Jerusalem International YMCA – Auditorium
25/06/26
20:00
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Organ Recital - Performed by Yuliya Shmelkina
Yuliya Shmelkina – organ

Dieterich Buxtehude — Prelude in G Minor, BuxWV 149

Johann Sebastian Bach — Chorale Prelude: O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622

— Chaconne in G Minor, BWV 1179*

Dieterich Buxtehude — Chorale Prelude: Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist, BuxWV 209

Johann Sebastian Bach — Chaconne and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 1178*

— Chorale Prelude: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645

— Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543

 

*These chaconnes are recently rediscovered works attributed to Bach and receive their Israeli premiere at the festival.

This organ recital explores the artistic connection between Dieterich Buxtehude and Bach, and the influence of the North German organ tradition on Bach’s development as both composer and performer. The program combines works by both composers, including Israeli premieres of works only recently attributed to Bach, performed by internationally acclaimed organist Yulia Shmelkina.
Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem
27/06/26
13:30
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Introduction to the Magnificat
Alma Meir-Nir – Winds & Musical Direction Doron Schleifer – Countertenor Nevo Weiner – Tenor Noam Gal – Violin Liron Rinat – Sackbut Sonya Binnenfeld-Navot – Viola da Gamba Guy Pardo – Organ & Harpsichord

Johann Sebastian Bach – Chorale Prelude, BWV 648
Nicolaus de Random – Magnificat anima mea Dominum
Johann Hermann Schein – Magnificat anima mea, a 3
Dieterich Buxtehude – Magnificat in the Ninth Tone
Orlando di Lasso – Encore que col partire / Magnificat in the Fourth Tone (excerpts)
Erhard Kindermann – Magnificat in the Eighth Tone
Heinrich Schütz – Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, SWV 344
Johann Caspar Kerll – Keyboard Modulations on the Magnificat in the Fourth Tone
Samuel Scheidt – Christmas Magnificat, SSWV 299
Johann Pachelbel – Magnificat Fugue
Michael Hoffmann – Kleines Magnificat *
Johann Sebastian Bach – Aria and Chorale from the cantata Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, BWV 10

* Formerly attributed to J. S. Bach and to Telemann

The Magnificat – a hymn of praise – may well be one of the most frequently set texts in the history of Western music. During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, many composers did not content themselves with a single setting, but published entire books of Magnificats, sometimes numbering in the dozens or even hundreds. These works were written in various languages and styles, for different liturgical occasions, and at times even as audition pieces. Although the Magnificat is a sacred text, it was not uncommon in the Renaissance and early Baroque to find settings based on well-known melodies or popular madrigals, explicitly cited in the title to remove any doubt as to the composer’s intention. Prominent examples can be found in the works of Orlando di Lasso, who composed over one hundred Magnificats, and Michael Praetorius, who published a volume devoted entirely to Latin Magnificats for varying numbers of voices, while also including German Magnificats in his other collections – some of them lavish works for multiple choirs and instruments. Many Magnificats are based on Gregorian chant, which varies according to the mode (one of the eight "tones") in which the work is written. There is also a Magnificat in the so-called Ninth Tone, known as the Peregrini or "German Magnificat", often – but not always – set to a German text. As far as we know, Bach himself composed relatively few Magnificats, yet those he did write often draw on the "German mode", which he occasionally used as a slow-moving cantus firmus – played or sung alongside faster-moving lines in the other voices. His great and most famous Magnificat will, of course, be performed at the festival’s central concert. It is also worth noting that a Magnificat need not be a vocal work: many instrumental settings exist, and Johann Pachelbel alone published nearly one hundred Magnificat fugues for keyboard. For this concert, we have assembled some of the most fascinating examples from the early history of the Magnificat through Bach himself, offering an evening that serves as a concise survey of the "German Magnificat tradition".
Jerusalem International YMCA – Conference Hall
30/06/26
20:00
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Omri Mor – Swinging Bach | Piano Recital
Omri Mor – piano
This concert explores Bach as a source of inspiration for the world of jazz — an artist who combined structural perfection with a vibrant spirit of improvisation. Pianist Omri Mor connects Bach, jazz, and original music, creating a one-time musical encounter where Baroque tradition, contemporary improvisation, and world music meet in a living dialogue.
Jerusalem International YMCA – Auditorium
1/07/26
20:00
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Biblical Bach
Keren Motseri (Netherlands) — soprano Soloists of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra Noam Schuss, Daphna Ravid – Violin Tami Borenstein – Viola Orit Messer Jacobi – Cello Sonia Binenfeld-Navot – Viola da Gamba David Shemer – Harpsichord

Johann Sebastian Bach — Cantata No. 196: Der Herr denket an uns (“The Lord Thinketh on Us”)

Sinfonia | Aria

Dieterich Buxtehude — Trio Sonata Op. 1 No. 6

Dieterich Buxtehude — Lauda anima mea

Johann Rosenmüller — Sonata da Camera No. 4

Johann Rosenmüller — Wie der Hirsch schreyet nach frischen Wasser (“As the Hart Panteth After the Water Brooks”)

Giovanni Battista Fiocco — Lamentatio Secunda (“Second Lamentation”)

Johann Sebastian Bach — Aria from BWV 112: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn (“Everything with God and Nothing Without Him”)*

 

*Israeli premiere of a work rediscovered in 2005.

This concert brings together liturgical works based on Biblical texts — from Psalms and the Book of Lamentations. Alongside Bach’s vocal works, which frame the evening, audiences will hear music by two of the composers who profoundly influenced Bach’s musical language — Buxtehude and Rosenmüller — as well as the remarkable lamentation by the Belgian composer Fiocco, whose music is rarely performed in Israel.
Jerusalem International YMCA – Conference Hall
2/07/26
20:00
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Sei Solo | Festival Closing Performance – Music and Dance
Choreography & Dance: Miriam Engel Juan Cruz (Argentina) – Dancer Soloists of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra: Edith Shemer – Flute Lilya Slavny – Violin Talia Erdal – Cello David Shemer – Harpsichord

Prelude in C Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (harpsichord solo)

Partita for Solo Flute: Allemande

Adagio in G Minor (solo violin)

Organ Trio Sonata No. 3 in D Minor: First Movement

Organ Trio Sonata No. 2 in E Minor: First Movement

Sarabande from Cello Suite No. 5

Trio Sonata from The Musical Offering: Second Movement

Flute Sonata in B Minor: First Movement

Aria from the Goldberg Variations (harpsichord solo)

Sei Solo is a performance combining Bach’s music with contemporary dance, exploring the idea of solitude in art, inspired by the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin written after the death of Bach’s wife. Dancers Miriam Engel and Juan Cruz, together with musicians of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, create a dialogue between movement, sound, and the human voice around the theme of loneliness.
Jerusalem International YMCA – Auditorium
3/07/26
12:30
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Exhibition Marking the Tenth Festival
As part of the ongoing collaboration with the Bach House in Eisenach (Germany), a special exhibition curated by the Bach House will be presented for the tenth consecutive year in the Three Arches Gallery of the YMCA Hotel. This year’s exhibition is particularly festive, celebrating a decade of the Jerusalem Bach Festival as well as the 125th anniversary of the first Bach Festival, held in Berlin in 1901 – a tradition that has since united cultural capitals around the world around the musical legacy of this legendary composer.

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