English

INTERNAtional Bach Network Festival
100 years karl Richter - bach for the World
Tradition & Innovation

An Initiative of the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Academy Hamburg
under the patronage of Ton Koopman

Idea, research and concept

Hansjörg Albrecht
Founder and Artistic Director of the Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Akademie Hamburg
Successor to Karl Richter as Artistic Director of the
Munich Bach Choir & Bach Orchestra (2005 - 2023)

International network of artists, conductors, ensembles, choirs, orchestras, festivals and cooperation partners

Plauen (Richter's birthplace), Marienberg, Freiberg, Dresden, Ansbach, Nürnberg, Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich, Halle, Mallorca, Essen, Cologne, Prague, Vienna, Lucerne, Hangzhou, Wissembourg, London, Paris (in preparation), Kamień Pomorski, Leżajsk, Florence, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Schaffhausen, Lausanne, Berlin, Zwickau, Otterndorf, Toyama, Kanazawa, Takasaki, Tamakura, Eisenach, Masevaux, Helsinki, Bremen, Gdańsk, Thierenbach, Frauenchiemsee, Madrid and more...

Festivals, Concerts & Projects 2026

01. - 17.04.26 | 4th International Bach Festival Hamburg
02. - 11.07.26 | International Festival Court Church Lucerne
11. - 18.10.26 | Bach Festival Munich

31.12.25 | Halle/S. (Germany), Händelhalle
Beethoven | Robert-Franz-Singakademie, Staatskapelle Halle, Hansjörg Albrecht

05.02.26 | Gdańsk (Poland), Polish Baltic Philharmony Concert Hall
Works by Bach, Franck and Shostakovich | Cameron Carpenter

01.03.26 | Inca (Spain), Theatre | Mallorca Bach Festival
J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations | Harpsichord Recital | Johannes Skudlik

03.03.2026 | Hamburg (Germany), Elbphilharmonie (Chamber Music Hall)
Bach.Podcast: Music for the Island & Happy Birthday CPE Bach! with Maul & Schrammek, CPE.Bach.Ensemble.Hamburg, Hansjörg Albrecht

13.03.2026 | Halle/S. (Germany), Ulrichskirche Concert Hall
Works by Rebel, Bach and Handel | Handel Festival Orchestra Halle, Gottfried van der Goltz

21. 03.26 | Thierenbach (France) Basilique Notre-Dame de Thierenbach | Concert to mark the 341st birthday of JS Bach
J.S.Bach The Six Trio Sonatas BWV 525-530 for Organ | Thierry Mechler

06.04.26 | Hamburg (Germany), Elbphilharmonie | International Bach Festival
Lecture: Music Drama & Opera – Bach | Prof. Michael Maul (Leipzig Bach Festival)
J.C. Bach: Opera ‘Amadis de Gaules’ | CPE Bach Choir Hamburg, B'Rock Orchestra Ghent, Hansjörg Albrecht

07.04.26 | Hamburg (Germany), NN | International Bach Festival
Music Club: Special ‘With Bach into the world - 100 years of Karl Richter’ | Hansjörg Albrecht

09.04.26 | Hamburg (Germany), Elbphilharmonie | International Bach Festival
CPE Bach: Symphonies & Oboe Concertos | Albrecht Mayer, CPE Bach Orchestra Hamburg, Hansjörg Albrecht

11.04.26 | Otterndorf (Germany), St. Severi | International Bach Festival
J.S. Bach: Cantatas | Members of the NDR Vocal Ensemble, NDR Baroque, Hansjörg Albrecht

11.04.26 | Lüdingworth (Germany), St. Jacobi I International Bach Festival
JS & CPE Bach: Violin- and Organ Works I Soyoung Park & Hansjörg Albrecht

14.04.26 | Hamburg (Germany), Laeiszhalle | International Bach Festival
J.S. Bach: The Art of Fugue | CPE Bach Ensemble of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, Hansjörg Albrecht

17.04.26 | Hamburg (Germany), Laeiszhalle | International Bach Festival
J.S. Bach: Secular Cantatas | CPE Bach Choir Hamburg, Barucco Original Sound Orchestra Vienna, David Chin & Hansjörg Albrecht

03.05.26 | Schaffhausen (Switzerland), City Church
Bach & Improvisation | Organ Recital | Stéphane Mottoul

08.05.26 | London (UK), Westminster Abbey
Bach & Improvisation | Organ Recital | Stéphane Mottoul

30.05.26 | Madrid (Spain), Basilica Medinaceli
Bach: Famous Organworks / Jesús Ruiz

06.06.26 | Hangzhou (China), Philharmonic Concert Hall
J.S. Bach (Transcriptions by Respighi, Stokowsky et al.) | Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, Hansjörg Albrecht

06.06.26 | Florence (Italy), San Carlo
Bach & more | Organ Recital | Johannes Skudlik

14.06.26 | Florence (Italy), Auditorio Santo Stefano al Ponte
Bach, Bossi, Tchaikovsky | Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, Johannes Skudlik

15.06.26 | Wissembourg (France), Abbey Church of St. Peter & Paul
Bach & Improvisation | Organ Recital | Stéphane Mottoul

16.06.26 | Florence (Italy), Auditorio Santo Stefano al Ponte
Bach, Bossi, Tchaikovsky | Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, Johannes Skudlik

02.07.2026 | Lucerne (Switzerland), Court Church | International Festival
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Elijah op.70 | Choir of the Klangverwaltung, Festival Orchestra Lucerne | Stéphane Mottoul

03.07.26 | Lucerne (Scwitzerland), Court Church | International Festival
Bach & more | Organ Recital | Jean-Christophe Geiser

04.07.2026 | Leipzig (Germany), St. Thomas Church | International Organ Festival (opening concert)
Bach Programme of Karl Richter's first concert as Thomas organist (October 1949) | Thomasorganist Johannes Lang

04.07.26 | Lucerne (Switzerland), Court Church
Bach: Famous Works for Violin, Harpsichord & Organ | Christina Gallati, Hansjörg Albrecht, Stéphane Mottoul

07.07.26 | Lucerne (Scwitzerland), Court Church | International Festival
Bach & Organ Storm | Organ Recital | Stéphane Mottoul

07.07.26 | Prague (Czechia), St. Vitus Cathedral
Bach & more | Organ Recital | Johannes Skudlik

10.07.26 | Lucerne (Scwitzerland), Court Church | International Festival
Bach & more | Organ Recital | Lidia Ksiazkiewitz

11.07.26 | Lucerne (Scwitzerland), Court Church | International Festival
Bach & more | Organ Recital | Christoph Schönfelder

14.07.26 | Frauenchiemsee (Germany), Münster | Herrenchiemsee Festival
Bach: Solo Cantatas & Instrumental Concertos | Thomas E. Bauer & Orchestra of the Klangverwaltung

19.07.26 | Masevaux (France), Saint-Martin | 50th International Organ Festival of Masevaux
Sacred a cappella choral music | Windsbach Boys' Choir, Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard, Ludwig Böhme

20.07.26 | Kamień Pomorski (Poland), Cathedral
Bach & Improvisation | Organ Recital | Stéphane Mottoul

21.07.26 | Leżajsk (Poland), Bazylika
Bach & Improvisation | Organ Recital | Stéphane Mottoul

24.07.26 | Lausanne (Switzerland), Cathedral
Bach & Improvisation | Organ Recital | Stéphane Mottoul

28.07.26 | Eisenach (Germany), St. George's Church | Concert on the occasion of the anniversary of J.S. Bach's death
J.S. Bach: Concertos for 2 harpsichords, etc. | Christian Stötzner & Hansjörg Albrecht, Thuringian Bach Collegium, Gernot Süßmuth

31.07.26 | Ansbach (Germany), St. Gumbertus
Brahms: A German Requiem | Windsbach Boys' Choir, Cantores Minores Helsinki, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Ludwig Böhme

06.08.26 | Freiberg (Germany), Cathedral
J.S. Bach: Organ works and Transcriptions | Organ Recital | Hansjörg Albrecht

06.08.26 | Bremen (Germany), Cathedral
Works by Bach & Reger (B-A-C-H) | Julian Emanuel Becker (Bach Prize Winner 2024 Leipzig)

12.09.26 | Berlin (Germany), St. Matthias
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 | Organ Recital | Hansjörg Albrecht

17.09.26 | Plauen (Germany), St. John's | Richter's birthplace
J.S. Bach: Famous Organ Works | Organ Recital | Hansjörg Albrecht

20.09.26 | Zwickau (Germany), Cathedral
J.S. Bach, Franz Liszt, and Max Reger | Organ Recital | Hansjörg Albrecht

11.10.26 | Munich (Germany), Künstlerhaus am Lenbachplatz | Bach Festival Week
Trio sonatas by Bach, Handel and Vivaldi | Members of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra (including Marie-Luise Modersohn, Michael Martin Kofler) & Hansjörg Albrecht

13.10.26 | Munich (Germany), Markuskirche | Bach Festival Week
Mass in B minor: Bach's magnum opus under the microscope | Michael Roth & Hansjörg Albrecht

14.10.26 | Munich (Germany), University of Music, Great Hall | Bach Festival Week
Works by Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Reger | Bernhard Haas Martin Sander

15.10.26 | Munich (Germany) | Bach festival Week
CELEBRATORY CONCERT MARKING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF KARL RICHTER (15 October 1926)
in preparation | Bach.Festival.Ensemble.Munich, Hansjörg Albrecht

16.1026 | Munich (Germany), Café Luitpold | Bach Festival Week
Bach: Cello Suites 1-3 | Students of Prof. Wen-Sin Yang's cello class (HfMT Munich)

17.10.26 | Munich (Germany), Café Luitpold | Bach Festival Week
Bach: Cello Suites 4-6 | Students of Prof. Wen-Sin Yang's cello class (HfMT Munich)

17.10.26 | Munich (Germany), Markuskirche | Bach Festival Week
Bach: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord | Linus Roth, Hansjörg Albrecht

17.10.26 | Munich (Germany), Bergson Art Power House Munich | Bach Festival Week (in memory of Karl Richter)
J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations | Organ Recital | Hansjörg Albrecht

22.10. - 10.11.26 | Toyama, Kanazawa, Takasaki, Tamakura (Japan)
Bach & Karl Richter Festival with concerts and master classes | Hansjörg Albrecht | in preperation

30.10.26 | Helsinki (Finland), Cathedral
Brahms: A German Requiem | Windsbach Boys' Choir, Cantores Minores Helsinki, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Hannu Norjanen

26.11.26 | Lucerne (Scwitzerland), Court Church | Bach in Advent
J.S. Bach: Cantatas | Baroque Orchestra of the Court Church, Stéphane Mottoul

29.11.26 | Moscow (Russia), Tchaikovsky Concert Hall | As part of the ‘Russian Organ Day’
Bach: Reconstruction of Karl Richter's programme in Moscow | Alexander Fiseisky

05.12.26 | St. Petersburg (Russia), Philharmonic Hall
Bach: Reconstruction of Karl Richter's programme in St. Petersburg | Alexander Fiseisky

11.12.26 | Dresden (Germany), Kreuzkirche
J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio | Dresdner Kreuzchor, Kreuzkantor Martin Lehmann

12.12.26 | Dresden (Germany), Kreuzkirche
J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio | Dresdner Kreuzchor, Kreuzkantor Martin Lehmann

13.12.26 | Dresden (Germany), Kreuzkirche
J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio | Dresdner Kreuzchor, Kreuzkantor Martin Lehmann

Artists | Ensembles | Festivals | Partners

ARTISTS
Hansjörg Albrecht (Conductor, Organ, Harpsichord)
Ilker Arcayürek (Tenor)
Thomas E. Bauer (Baritone)
Catalina Bertucci (Soprano)
Ludwig Böhme (Conductor)
Cameron Carpenter (Organ)
David Chin (Conductor & Harpsichord)
Danea Dörken (Piano)
Ilse Eerens (Soprano)
Alexander Fiseisky (Organ)
Christina Gallati (Violin)
Jean-Christophe Geiser (Organ)
Bernhard Haas (Organ)
Klaus Häger (Bass)
Daniel Johannsen (Tenor)
Michael Martin Kofler (Transverse Flute)
Lidia Ksiazkiewitz (Organ)
Thomasorganist Johannes Lang (Organ)
Kreuzkantor Martin Lehmann (Conductor)
Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard (Organ)
Albrecht Mayer (Oboe)
Thierry Mechler (Organ)
Marie-Luise Modersohn (Oboe)
Stéphane Mottoul (Conductor & Organ)
Hannu Norjanen (Conductor)
Soyoung Park (Baroque Violin)
Daniel Ochoa (Baritone)
Sophie Rennert (Mezzo)
Linus Roth (Violin)
Lenneke Ruiten (Soprano)
Jesús Ruiz (Organ)
Martin Sander (Organ)
Christoph Schönfelder (Orgel)
Johannes Skudlik (Conductor, Organ, Harpsichord)
Christian Stötzner (Harpsichord)
Krešimir Stražanac (Bass)
Gernot Süßmuth (Violin & Conductor)
Julia Sophie Wagner (Soprano)
Gottfried von der Goltz (Violine & Leitung)
Students of Prof. Wen-Sin Yang's cello class (HfMT Munich)
Shimon Yoshida (Tenor)

CHOIRS
Cantores Minores Helsinki
Choir of Klangverwaltung
CPE Bach Chor Hamburg
Dresdner Kreuzchor
Robert-Franz-Singakademie Halle
Windsbach Boys' Choir

ORCHESTRAS
Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
FestivalOrchestra Hofkirche Luzern
Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra
Orchestra of the Klangverwaltung
Staatskapelle Halle
Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra

CHAMBER ORCHESTRAS
Orchetra da Camera Fiorentina

BAROCK ORCHESTRAS
B'Rock Orchestra Ghent
Baroque Orchestra of the Court Church Lucerne
Barucco Original Sound Orchestra Vienna
CPE Bach Orchestra Hamburg
Händelfestspielorchester Halle
NDR Baroque
Thuringian Bach Collegium

ENSEMBLES
Bach.Festival.Ensemble.Munich
CPE Bach Ensemble of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra
Members of the NDR Vocal Ensemble

EDUCATION & LECTURES
Hansjörg Albrecht
Prof. Michael Maul (Bach Festival Leipzig)
KMD Michael Roth (church musician at St. Mark's Church in Munich)
Bernhard Schrammek (musicologist)

FESTIVALS
Herrenchiemsee Festival
International Bachfestival Hamburg
International Festival Court Church Lucerne
Karl-Richter-Festival Munich

PARTNERS
LUDWIG BECK – Department store for the senses (CD department) | Munich | in preparation
Bergson Arts Centre Munich
BMR Artist & Project Management | Augsburg
BR Klassik | in preparation
Dr. Stella Felder-Casagrande (Internet Design & Publishing) | Hohenrain (CH)
German-Japanese Society Hamburg (President: Eiko Hashimaru-Shigemitsu)
Klais Orgelbau | Bonn
Axel Kroell (IOOF - International Online Organ Festival ) | Munich
NDR Klassik | in preparation
Organ House in Stiftland
Prof. Tobias Richter (President Géza Anda Fondation) | Zurich
Rauschardt PR | Munich
Prof. Akio Takano (Bach Society Japan, PR for CPE Bach Akademy Hamburg) | Tokyo, Leipzig
Kexin Zhang (Ruge Artist Management) I Peking

From father to son

What would the world be like without the pioneering conductor, charismatic figure and musician Karl Richter? Would it be a world without the works of the universal and world-connecting Johann Sebastian Bach in international concert programs?
Karl Richter was a figure of the century: countless first recordings of Bach's oeuvre and trend-setting recordings, an unusually busy travel schedule for his time with international concert tours and hundreds of concerts at home and abroad, Bach at the highest level, but at the same time egalitarian and accessible to all people - all this reflects Richter's extraordinary thirst for knowledge and creativity. The passionate Bach specialist's work in the post-war years sparked a worldwide Bach revolution in a very short space of time, making Munich the Bach city and the center of an extraordinary Bach renaissance for 25 years. With the Munich Bach Choir & Orchestra, Richter founded two internationally sought-after ensembles that would make the music of the great Johann Sebastian known throughout the world in the years that followed.
In the anniversary year 2026, Karl Richter would have turned 100. A reason to dedicate ourselves to this gigantic life's work and incomparable musician, and at the same time to follow our own paths in the same spirit and fire.
Hansjörg Albrecht is also a specialist in Bach's music, an internationally sought-after conductor, organist and harpsichordist, as well as a universal musician and refreshingly visionary. As Karl Richter's successor, Hansjörg Albrecht took over the artistic direction of the two Munich ensembles in 2005 and led them back to their international reputation for 18 years before handing over the baton in 2023 and turning to an inspiring new field and place of activity. And so in 2023 - in the spirit of his Munich predecessor - he founded a Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Academy in Hamburg, the booming northern German metropolis and “gateway to the world”, to establish a new center of excellence for the Bach family and to bring the forgotten Hamburg Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel and his brothers into the collective memory. A second Bach renaissance takes its course.
Together with the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Academy, the renowned Bach specialist Hansjörg Albrecht is now devoting himself to Karl Richter's life's work in the anniversary year, tracing Karl Richter's places of activity in this tradition in order to honor the musician, but also to learn from this enormous oeuvre, again and again with Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, but also with the great musical milestones of the universal musician Karl Richter in his luggage.
From father to son.

Renaissance & Competence Center

“His unmistakable style of interpreting Bach's music earned Karl Richter universal admiration right from the start of his career. Later, as a virtuoso organist, he impressed an astonished, worldwide audience. However, he caused even more of a sensation as conductor of the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra, which he directed and formed. Karl Richter touched his listeners with his purified emotionality and expressiveness; for decades he was the true “Thomaskantor of the heart”, even though he worked in Munich.” (Deutsche Grammophon)

The classical music world celebrates Karl Richter's 100th birthday in 2026. Richter, who was friends with John F. Kennedy and Leonard Bernstein, among others, is regarded as the Bach prophet par excellence.
With his recordings and international concert tours as a conductor, organist and harpsichordist, he is absolutely unique for the worldwide dissemination of Johann Sebastian Bach's enormous oeuvre after the Second World War. His recording of Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto even made it onto the Voyager Golden Record, as part of the two space probes Voyager 1 & 2, which were launched into space in 1977. Born in Plauen/Vogtland in Saxony in 1926, he joined Rudolf Mauersberger's Dresden Kreuzchor choir as a singer after spending time in Marienberg and Freiberg (where he first came into contact with the large Silbermann organ in the cathedral). As a highly talented musician, he then studied in Leipzig with Karl Straube and Günther Ramin and finally became organist at Leipzig's Thomaskirche at the age of 23. During a tour with the St. Thomas Choir, he decided not to return to the former GDR, but first settled in Zurich. In Munich, he gradually built up his platform as a global cultural ambassador for post-war Germany by founding the Munich Bach Choir & Bach Orchestra and establishing himself as its artistic center. It is therefore not surprising that a large international fan community formed during Richter's lifetime, which continues to exist to this day and has even grown again in recent times. Despite the findings of historical performance practice in recent decades, Richter's artistic legacy is still regarded as a legendary milestone in Bach interpretation. It is no coincidence that Deutsche Grammophon released a remastered new edition of his extensive catalog of works to mark the 40th anniversary of Richter's death in 2020.

Between late Romanticism, post-war rethinking and historical performance practice: An examination of a polarizing world star and phenomenon

As a year-round music festival in honor of Karl Richter, the concerts and projects planned by Hansjörg Albrecht in a broad network in the anniversary year 2026 will focus primarily on the stations in Richter's life as well as the performance and recording venues of Richter, who expanded his repertoire beyond Johann Sebastian Bach to include a number of other composers of the 17th-20th centuries and also achieved some benchmark interpretations there in the international music centers. Albrecht sheds light on Karl Richter's significance, especially for the worldwide discovery of Bach from 1949 until Richter's surprisingly early death in 1981. Radical changes are often reactions to what has existed up to that point: Richter's importance for the development of the early music movement can therefore not be overestimated, as the leading interpreters of the following 30 years, such as Harnoncourt, Gardiner, Herreweghe, Kopmann and Suzuki, learned about Bach's universal world through Richter's recordings - but for the most part distanced themselves completely from it in order to go their own ways. The famous expressive sending with the heart, which Richter saw throughout his life as a vision for himself and his way of making music, gave way in the first stages of the development of historical performance practice to a sometimes undercooled “always wanting to get it right”. Today, a good 40 years later, both worlds are gradually coming together in a renewed sense of expressive music-making. Perhaps this is also a reason for the continuing popularity and rediscovery of the “phenomenon” of Karl Richter.

Oeuvre

Johann Sebastian Bach

Orchestral works
Cantatas
Passions
Oratorios
Masses
Organ works & Organ Transcriptions
Harpsichord works
Chamber music

as well as works by

Schütz, Telemann, Scarlatti, Händel
Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian Bach, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelsssohn-Bartholdy, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Liszt,
Verdi, Dvořák, Reger, Messiaen

Reminescences

Edda Moser

Julia Hamari

Friedemann Winklhofer

Karl-Christian Kohn

Deutsch

INTERNATIONALES BACH-NETZWERK-FESTIVAL
100 Jahre Karl Richter – Bach für die Welt
Tradition & Innovation

Eine Initiative der Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Akademie Hamburg
unter der Schirmherrschaft von Ton Koopman

Idee, Recherche und Konzept

Hansjörg Albrecht
Gründer und Künstlerischer Leiter der Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Akademie Hamburg
Nachfolger von Karl Richter als Künstlerischer Leiter des
Münchener Bach-Chor & Orchesters (2005 - 2023)

Internationales Netzwerk von Künstlern, Dirigenten, Ensembles, Chören, Orchestern, Festivals und Kooperationspartnern

Plauen (Richter's Geburtsort), Marienberg, Freiberg, Dresden, Ansbach, Nürnberg, Leipzig, Hamburg, München, Halle, Mallorca, Essen, Köln, Prag, Wien, Luzern, Hangzhou, Weißenburg, London, Paris (in Vorbereitung), Kamień Pomorski, Leżajsk, Florenz, Moskau, St. Petersburg, Schaffhausen, Lausanne, Berlin, Zwickau, Otterndorf, Toyama, Kanazawa, Takasaki, Tamakura, Eisenach, Masevaux, Helsinki, Bremen, Gdańsk, Thierenbach, Frauenchiemsee, Madrid und weitere...

Festivals, Konzerte & Projekte 2026