Das unvollendete Paradies – Motetten voller Trost und Geborgenheit | zamus: early music festival 2026

In the organizer's words:

Instrumentation:
VOX BONA Choir
Karin Freist-Wissing - conductor
Fiete Wulff - violoncello
Thomas Dreiseidler - bassoon
Rafael Clément - double bass
George Warren - organ

Does paradise exist? Does it exist in an afterlife? Music can paint everything: intense images of horror, paradisiacal landscapes, tears and consolation. The Bach family experienced war, suffering and death. In three motets by Johann Christoph, Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Bach, which come from different generations, the chamber choir VOX BONA encounters touching hope between the lines, even in the face of a much too early death. How do the images of an existence after death in the Romantic period and today look in comparison? The motet "Warum ist das Licht gegeben" by Johannes Brahms tells of abysmal grief and despair. And yet here, too, hope wins out in the end. Albert Becker's "Bleibe bei uns" and Sven-David Sandström's "In paradisum" express a great longing for comfort and security in very different tonal languages.

Motets by Johann Christoph Bach as well as Johannes Brahms, Friedrich Kiel, Albert Becker, Sven-David Sandström and Eric Whitacre.

22/14€ each plus advance booking fees

Tickets available online via zamusfestival.de and zamus.de, by phone on +49 221 9874 38 21 (Mon, Wed, Fri 10:00-14:00) and on site at the Neumarkt box office (Mon-Sat 10:00-18:30, ticket hotline +49 221 42 07 6000 or via tickets@theaterkasse-neumarkt.de)

Instagram: zamus_koeln
facebook: zentrumfueraltemusik
YouTube: zamus: center for early music
www.zamusfestival.de