Global Foundation for the Performing Arts

International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition 2024
2024-07-16 - 2024-07-27 | Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
The XXIVth International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition 2024 will be held in the following disciplines: Organ, Voice, Violoncello/Baroque Violoncello. The Competition is open to the public. The Competition will be held in Leipzig from July 16 to 27, 2024.

Applications for the competition may be submitted between December 1, 2023 and February 29, 2024 (23:59 CET) via the MUVAC portal, www.muvac.com. Each candidate may apply for one discipline only.

The International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition 2024 is open to soloists of any nationality who are at least 16 years old. The participants must have been born after July 27, 1991. Candidates who were admitted to the 2020 Bach Competition after the pre-selection rounds may also apply for the 2024 competition even if they have passed the age limit.

Bach Prizes
1st Prize € 10.000
2nd Prize € 7.500
3rd Prize € 5.000
The prizewinners have the right to use the title »Bach Prizewinners«.

Bachfest 2023
2023-06-08 - 2023-06-18
Bachfest Leipzig 2023 is presented under the title “BACH for Future” in the city that Bach served as cantor for 27 years.

The History of the Leipzig Bach Festival

A festival with long tradition
Since 1904, festivals to honour Johann Sebastian Bach have been held in Leipzig from time to time. Firstly initiated by members of the Neue Bachgesellschaft (New Bach Society), the city of Leipzig gradually took over the organisation after 1908, when the »First Leipzig Bach Festival« took place to celebrate the unveiling of the new Bach monument on St Thomas’s Square. Karl Straube (1873–1950), who became cantor of St Thomas’s later, was the man of the first hour and the driving force in the first years.

Political ideologies
By the year 1989, 26 festivals had taken place under several names: »Bachfest Leipzig«, »Bach Days«, »Bach Festival« or »Bach Week Festivals«. The fact that certain ideologies tried to incorporate the festival shows most clearly in names such as »Reichs-Bach-Fest 1935«.
In times of dictatorship, the ideologies even determined the programme of the Bach Festival. The Nazi propaganda showed Bach as a German national hero; in the GDR, since 1950, there had been attemps to emphasize only on the secular works of Bach. The Leipzig Bach Festivals however remained widely unaffected by this, due to the fact that they had been arranged by the »Neue Bachgesellschaft« which was still a pan-German organisation.

The city of music
The slogan »Leipzig, city of music« has repeatedly appeared from the 1920s on. However, at least from the mid 1990s, it is about more than simply giving the city a well-sounding byname. It was officially decided – applying the marketing strategies of Salzburg with its most famous citizen Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – »to represent Leipzig as city of Bach and apart from that as a city of culture and music.« The city council followed that line with its resolution to establish an annual Bach Festival from 1999 on. The organisation and realisation of the festival was entrusted to the Leipzig Bach Archive.

Bach Year 2000: Leipzig as the centre of the music world
The »new era« of the Leipzig Bach Festival began in 1999, when approximately 15,000 visitors attended the about 30 events. This was quite a pleasant outcome, but completely outstripped by the following year’s success. The year 2000 was a Bach memorial year, so more than 70,000 visitors poured into the city to enjoy many excellent concerts. A lot of renowned artists performed in Leipzig, each of them honouring Bach in their own personal way. Leipzig was the centre of the music world. For three months, a 54 by 54 metre portrait of the composer was put up above the city centre; St Thomas’s Church with the new Bach organ was re-opened after a restoration made possible by numerous donations; a 24-hour multi-media event was broadcast all over the world to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death; more than 90 concerts delighted the audience; many museums took part in the festival by organising special Bach exhibitions.

Continuous growth
In the years after the exceptional festival in 2000, the Bach Festival was able to establish itself among the many music festivals and the almost 30 German Bach festivals even with its comparably low budget. This was thanks to two important factors, namely the quality of the programme and the authenticity of the locations. Both are closely linked to each other, because even for established artists it is always something special to perform at the original Bach locations. And also for the audience from all over the world these factors are a good reason to come to Leipzig. A constant increase in visitor numbers backs up the concept of the Bach Festival which has proven successful since 1999 with a mixture of secular and sacred concerts, atmospheric jazz interpretations, chamber concerts, open air events, and organ trips.

Future developments
Johann Sebastian Bach’s next milestone birthday lies a little further in the future: in 2035, we will celebrate the anniversary of his 350th birthday … But before that we will celebrate the 300th anniversary of Bach’s appointment as Cantor of St. Thomas Church – in 2023!
