Journal
The Bach Players: latest news
July 2023 – News
It was in 1996 that I felt the need to bring more Bach into my life in Britain. In continental Europe, before I moved to London in 1992, Bach’s music had been my principal musical sustenance. But in the Britain of the 1990s I found that Bach was somehow neglected. This was how the idea of forming an ensemble dedicated to the music of J.S. Bach was born.
Marie Leonhardt-Amsler
July 2023 – News
Marie Leonhardt-Amsler died on 23 July 2022. In 1996, when I started The Bach Players, Marie and her husband Gustav Leonhardt, who pre-deceased her in 2012, agreed to be patrons of the group. There was more to this than just the wish to associate two famous and inspiring people with my project.
Hugh Wood the writer
September 2021 – News
The composer Hugh Wood died last month. He was a neighbour and friend of The Bach Players, and came to write notes for some of our concert programmes. Some memories follow.
Interview with Jaap Schröder
January 2020 – News
Jaap Schröder died on 1 January 2020, the day after his 94th birthday (he was born on 31 December 1925). Jaap was my godfather and my teacher on ‘modern’ violin during my studies at the Amsterdam Conservatoire in the 1970s. Our families lived on either side of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. Jaap had a French wife – Agnès – and so did my father Frans Moonen, who was also a musician. Both couples had families of three girls. Some of us went to the same secondary school, the Spinoza Lyceum. We have always stayed in touch. (Nicolette Moonen)
The Bach Players’ musical offering – questions and answers
October 2018 – News
Ahead of our Musical Offering concert at St John’s Smith Square, Sean Morris from St John’s conducted an interview with Nicolette Moonen. We give the transcript here.
Index to our recordings
November 2017 – News
We have compiled this index to the music and the musicians on our Hyphen Press Music CDs. The series of 12 CDs is now complete and can be bought as a set, for a special price, here.
The Bach Players in north London: an anniversary retrospective
September 2017 – News
This article by Robin Kinross was published in September 2017 in the journal of the Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution.
The Bach Players at 20 in Early Music Today
September 2017 – News
We are the subject of a very nice article by Adrian Horsewood in the latest issue of Early Music Today (September–November 2017). This is not online, so we show its pages here.
Christmas concert in Baarn
December 2016 – News
We played our Christmas concert last Saturday to a full and enthusiastic audience at the Paaskerk in Baarn. For the invitation and the organization: very warm thanks to the phenomenal Kees Koudstaal.
‘Bach’s library’ at Kenardington
November 2015 – News
Last Saturday evening we played the opening concert of a new venture, Saxon Shore Early Music. St Mary’s Church, Kenardington, at the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent, is a wonderful place for chamber music – we were privileged to be the first musicians to play in this series.
Sixteen years ago
November 2015 – News
We recently rediscovered this photo of the early Bach Players, at St John’s Wood Parish Church, London, in November 1999.
‘Bach and before’ at St John’s Downshire Hill
November 2015 – News
We have been wrapping up our ‘Bach and before’ project – concerts in Norwich and London, and then last week the recording sessions for what will be a CD of the music. We had an enthusiastic reception at both concerts, with probably our largest ever audience numbers in these two churches. The photographs taken from the gallery at St John’s Downshire Hill may suggest something of the atmosphere at this outstanding venue.
Jennifer Ward Clarke in conversation
June 2015 – News
Jennifer Ward Clarke – but we can only think of her as Jenny – was a friend and colleague. She was one of the first generation of Baroque players in Britain; at the same time she was a long-term member of the groups that performed new music in this country. Her life and musical career are well described in the obituary by her colleague Duncan Druce.
At The Wallace Collection, London
May 2015 – News
Last Sunday, sharing the platform with the harpsichordist Béatrice Martin, we played works by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. The concert was given in The Wallace Collection, as part of the London Festival of Baroque Music, whose theme this year is ‘Women in Baroque Music’. This was the first time that the LFBM (or its predecessor, the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music), had held a concert at a venue of this kind. All 200 seats had been sold a month in advance. It was wonderful to play surrounded by art of exactly the time of the music and in a space of regal splendour. An edited version of the concert will be broadcast in BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on 31 May.
At The Octagon Chapel, Norwich
March 2015 – News
Last Saturday we played our ‘Musical offering’ programme at our usual venue in Norwich, The Octagon Chapel, to what must have been our largest audience there – 170 or so people. In the afternoon, Marion Moonen made these photos of Nicolette Moonen, Silas Wollston, and Reiko Ichise rehearsing the Buxtehude sonata.
Jacquet de La Guerre
February 2015 – News
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729) is BBC Radio 3’s ‘Composer of the Week’ next week, starting on 2 March. We are fans of her music, and have recorded one of her trio sonatas on our CD An Italian in Paris. In May we are playing two concerts that feature her work: at the Cobbe Collection, Hatchlands in Surrey on 7 May, and at the London Festival of Baroque Music in the Wallace Collection in London on 17 May.
At Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge
February 2015 – News
Last Friday we played our ‘Musical offering’ programme for Cambridge Early Music at Trinity College Chapel, to a warm and enthusiastic audience. In the afternoon, Marion Moonen made these photos of Nicolette Moonen, Silas Wollston, and Reiko Ichise rehearsing the Buxtehude sonata.
At Burgh House, Hampstead
December 2014 – News
We played our ‘Musical offering’ programme last week in the Music Room at Burgh House, Hampstead, in London. This was a real chamber music experience: every seat in the wood-panelled room was occupied, and the atmosphere was intimate and intense: the music took over. Photos here show the group rehearsing, Silas Wollston explaining his arrangement of the canons in Bach’s work, and the final applause.
At St Jean de Braye
October 2014 – News
Last Sunday we played a concert at the parish church of St Jean de Bray, just outside Orléans, on the river Loire. This was the birthplace of Norbert Dufourcq (1904–90), organist and musicologist, and also the grandfather of The Bach Players’ Nicolette and Marion Moonen.
St John’s Downshire Hill: evening
June 2014 – News
Pawel Siwczak took this photo of our London home – St John’s Downshire Hill in Hampstead – just before our concert there, 5 October 2013.
The new website
May 2014 – News
This website replaces the site that we launched in September 2004. The old Bach Players website was designed and built by Ben Campbell, and, with various home-made extensions, it lived on for almost ten years.
The Bach Players on Flickr
April 2014 – News
One of the regular members of our audience at St John’s Downshire Hill – Treble 2309 is her Flickr name – has been taking photos at our concerts.
After enchantment
April 2014 – News
On Saturday 12 April, Maya Homburger and Barry Guy gave a duo concert, ‘Tales of enchantment’, at St John’s Downshire Hill, playing music by Biber, Kurtag, and by Barry Guy himself.
Distribution of our CDs: latest developments
November 2013 – News
Following the demise of Codaex earlier this year – within weeks of our having joined them – we have now made an agreement with the firm that has been established as its successor: New Arts International.
Concert representation outside the UK
September 2013 – News
We are very pleased to announce a new arrangement for our concerts outside the UK.
New distributor for our CDs
April 2013 – News
From this month our CDs are being distributed in the UK and in continental Europe by Codaex.
Classical music in the neighbourhood
February 2013 – News
Some of what we do with our concerts in London and Norwich is expressed and illustrated in the article that follows. It was written for and published on the Kentish Towner website.
The Bach Players on Facebook
November 2012 – News
Giving in to the pressures of modern life, we have signed up with Facebook.
Memories of Leonhardt / Mark Deller
June 2012 – News
We give here Mark Deller’s text for his contribution at our memorial concert for Gustav Leonhardt on 19 April 2012 at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London.
The Bach cantatas recording project / Nicholas Anderson
June 2012 – News
We give here Nicholas Anderson’s text for his contribution on this theme at our memorial concert for Gustav Leonhardt on 19 April 2012 at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London.
Leonhardt and the harpsichord / Nicholas Anderson
June 2012 – News
We give here Nicholas Anderson’s text for his contribution on this theme at our memorial concert for Gustav Leonhardt on 19 April 2012 at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London.
Gustav Leonhardt remembered
June 2012 – News
On 19 April 2012 at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, The Bach Players gave a memorial concert for Gustav Leonhardt.
Prelude Classical Music Awards 2012
May 2012 – News
We are delighted to announce that our ‘Pachelbel and Bach’ is among the winners of this year’s awards from the excellent Dutch CD shop, Prelude.
‘In Tune’ photo [3]
May 2012 – News
Nicholas Anderson and Nicolette Moonen spoke about Gustav Leonhardt on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ this month, before our memorial concert for him.
A Bach fugue in the Music Animation Machine
April 2012 – News
Stephen Malinowski has recently animated our recording of Mozart’s arrangement for string quartet of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s fugues.
Gustav Leonhardt memorial concert
February 2012 – News
At 7.30 pm on Thursday 19 April we are giving a memorial concert for Gustav Leonhardt at St James’s Church, Piccadilly. Music will include pieces by Henry Purcell, Louis Couperin, Johann Pachelbel, and J.S. Bach. We will play with our large group, including singers Rachel Elliott, Sally Bruce-Payne, James Gilchrist, and Matthew Brook. There will be spoken contributions from a number of people who knew and worked with Gustav Leonhardt. Full details will be announced here soon.
Gustav Leonhardt’s last concert
December 2011 – News
Gustav Leonhardt gave what he has said was his last concert last Monday evening at the Théâtre du Bouffes du Nord in Paris.
Gustav Leonhardt at St John’s
October 2011 – News
We are very pleased to announce that Gustav Leonhardt has accepted our invitation to play at St John’s Downshire Hill next year, on Saturday 28 April.
Music in Norwich
August 2011 – News
Our forthcoming concerts in Norwich are included in the new Music in Norwich booklet: a venture that we are happy to support.
Playing early music – an interview
April 2011 – News
n this conversation Nicolette Moonen, artistic director of The Bach Players, talks with Robin Kinross of Hyphen Press Music.
‘In Tune’ photo [2]
March 2011 – News
We contributed to BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ ahead of our ‘Salve Regina’ concerts.
The fourth CD
February 2011 – News
Finished copies of our newest CD, ‘Italy versus France’, are now with our publisher.
At St Cecilia’s Hall
February 2011 – News
We played our ‘Italy versus France’ programme at St Cecila’s Hall in Edinburgh last Saturday – and enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Georgian Concert Society. Every seat in the hall was taken.
Disc of the week
December 2010 – News
This Saturday (18 December) at 11.55 GMT our ‘Nun komm!’ is disc of the week on BBC Radio 3’s CD Review.
‘Pachelbel and Bach’ prehear
September 2010 – News
In anticipation of our next concerts in Norwich and London, we are posting these two clips from private recordings made at concerts in which two of the cantatas to be heard in November were played.
‘In Tune’ photo [1]
August 2010 – News
Ahead of our ‘Italy versus France’ concerts last month, we appeared on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’.
Distribution of our CDs
April 2010 – News
As from this month our CDs are being distributed to the trade in the UK and Ireland by Harmonia Mundi UK.
The Bach Players at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich
November 2009 – News
Bach Players in rehearsal for their concert at the Octagon Chapel, Norwich.
‘Nun komm!’ prehear
November 2009 – News
As a taster for the concerts in Norwich and London later this month, we are posting this clip from a private recording made at our performance of ‘Nun komm der heiden Heiland’, BWV 61.
Nun komm! Music for Advent and beyond
November 2009 – News
The press release for our concert in London later this month.
‘Every one a chaconne’ launched for subscribers
October 2009 – News
We presented the new CD to subscribers at a launch party last month.
A new partnership
July 2009 – News
For some time we have wanted to find a promoter to share the concerts that we do in London.
Concert Promoters’ Network
July 2009 – News
We have been chosen for inclusion in the 2010–2011 Concert Promoters’ Network Brochure.
The Bach Players at Beverley Minster
May 2009 – News
Bach Players in rehearsal for their concert at the Beverley Early Music Festival.
Bach arranging and arranged: an interview
January 2009 – News
In this conversation Nicolette Moonen, artistic director of The Bach Players, talks with Robin Kinross of Hyphen Press Music about the background to the group’s first recording.
Bach Players at Open House in London
September 2006 – News
In preparation for our ‘Mozart with a dash of Bach’ at St George’s Hanover Square, last Sunday we played an informal concert in the back courtyard at the Workplace Co-operative 115, in Bartholomew Road, Kentish Town, London.
Early photographs of The Bach Players
December 2004 – News
We are publishing here some photographs of the group in its first years, at St John’s Wood Parish Church, London. The photographs were taken by the oboist Mark Radcliffe.