No 57 J. S. Bach – The Apocalypse

Looking at his dramatic and emotional passions and cantatas, one can imagine that Bach would have been a fantastic opera composer. Indeed, it nearly came to fruition. Prompted by that idea, OPERA2DAY, one of the leading and most innovative Dutch opera and music theatre companies, and The Netherlands Bach Society, which has been committed for over a hundred years to sharing the music of Bach with everyone, created "the opera Bach never wrote”: J.S. Bach- The Apocalypse. The opera tells the true story of Dutchman Jan van Leyden. This actor, tavern keeper, and tailor became the leader of a movement in the sixteenth century that proclaimed the world would end. A utopian state was established in Münster, which radicalized into dictatorship. We follow Jan from his initial fervor, through his flamboyant yet ruthless kingship, to his final confession in a death cell. Thus, we experience from within how timeless mechanisms of populism, polarization, and radicalization unfold. With compelling, overwhelming, and emotional music by Bach, the story comes to life. Screenwriter and stage director Serge van Veggel, together with librettist Thomas Höft and baroque specialist and modern composer Panos Iliopoulos, turned the work into a true through-composed opera. Thanks to a captivating and grand staging, an excellent cast, and the choir and orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society under the direction of Hernán Schvartzman, Bach will be heard and seen as never before.