Acting Bach: Sir Simon Russell Beale looks forward to Bach & Sons

Renowned harpsichordist Jean Rondeau presents a new view of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at this year’s Bachfest Schaffhausen, including in arrangement for Baroque ensemble, and as a new composition for piano, percussion and electronics inspired by the cycle.

At the intersection of mathematics and music, the Festum Pi festival brings together theorists and performers to explore one of humanity’s oldest intellectual duets. We spoke with participant Professor Bertrand Maury, acclaimed mathematician and a concert pianist, about this enduring connection.

From Buxtehude, Bach and Handel, to contemporary composer Liza Lim, we take a tour of the myriad forms of composers’ handwriting and calligraphy – and how music makes itself on the page.

The two newly attributed pieces lay overlooked in manuscript form, until researcher Peter Wollny was able to firmly identify them as being by a 20-year-old JS Bach. 

Choreographer Kim Brandstrup talks about his remarkable collaboration with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and a group of professional hip-hop dancers and students from Camden’s Acland Burghley School.