Festival at the Chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu: Bach or not to be

And two! The young Lyon collective Les Saôneurs is back for a second edition of its festival dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach at the Chapelle de l'Hôtel-Dieu.

An intelligent and eclectic program that begins strongly with, as an opening piece, three Suites for solo cellos – by the extraordinary baroque cellist Hager Hanana – followed, the next day, by an anthology of Concertis for winds brought together in a program entitled Rechercher Bach!.

A tribute to Bach's contemporaries, but also and above all to the virtuoso contrapuntal writing of the Leipzig master with a concert for viola da gamba consort (a group of viols bringing together the entire family from the bass upwards), cunning transcriptions for violin and cello with the concert called Abracada'Bach or an astonishing program for three violins without bass: we quickly return to the viol with the Sonatas accompanied by the harpsichord. We will linger around the harpsichord for a while during a day of concerts, readings and a conference on the Little Book of Music by Anna Magdalena Bach.

We barely had time to recover from our emotions before the festival came to a close with a final orchestral firework display featuring concertos for violin and flute (the famous Suite in B minor ) and the magnificent Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with its solos for harpsichord, violin and flute. See you for the third edition!

May be Bach – Mondays and Tuesdays in May at the Hôtel-Dieu Chapel. Concerts at 8:30 p.m., lecture at 5:30 p.m. www.les-saoneurs.com