Better,
Is
Good

Bach’s own work offers a fitting image for this milestone. In The Art of the Fugue, he explored how much a single musical subject could yield. The work was left unfinished—the final fugue breaks off mid-phrase—and yet it is one of the most profound creations in all of music. Perhaps that is what beautiful endeavours are: never quite finished, always unfolding, sustained by the belief that the next variation is worth pursuing.

The anniversary edition opens with the Orchestre Festival International Bach Montréal, a pillar of the festival since 2018, in a festive program of Handel’s Water Music and Bach’s Magnificat, led by the distinguished Scottish conductor and Bach scholar John Butt. We are honoured to welcome Sir András Schiff, who returns to the festival to perform The Art of the Fugue, and to present the extraordinary Augustin Hadelich in a solo violin program. Choir lovers will be treated to Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine with Vox Luminis and Lionel Meunier. The multi-Grammy-winning mandolinist Chris Thile brings together bluegrass and Bach in a program like no other. Our closing weekend belongs to the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (AKAMUS), beloved guests of Montreal audiences since 2009 and very much at home here, in two concerts: one devoted to Bach and his family, the other in which dance finds its way into the music. And it is with particular emotion that we welcome Kent Nagano and the OSM for the Christmas Oratorio, a piece that marked our very first partnership with the orchestra in 2007.

To the public of Montreal and Quebec: you have carried this festival through twenty years, and you, I hope, will carry it into a bright future. Thank you.

The full program holds many more concerts with local and international artists, and our beloved Off-Festival Bach returns with recitals, events, and a few surprises still to come.

Mieux c’est bien! This is what has guided us, and what will continue to guide us. Have a wonderful festival!