Monday, March 23rd to Friday, March 27th, 2026, 1:00 PM
No Day Without Bach
We are in the middle of the Easter cycle, and that naturally means focusing once again on the Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach, with performances around Good Friday. The famous performance of the St Matthew Passion in the Grote Kerk of Naarden has been added to the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Nowhere else can you find as many performances of this masterpiece as in the Netherlands. As a result, it has also become a Dutch tradition.
However, the makers of *No day without Bach* travel to Lochem every year for the performance in the Grote or Sint-Gudulakerk. Highly recommended!
In *No day without Bach*, we present both the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion every year. However, it is a bit difficult to accurately represent these masterpieces in our one-hour episodes. It is quite a challenge, but a compromise worth making just to be able to let you hear them. On March 23, 24, and 25, we will present the new CD of the St John Passion by Pygmalion under the direction of Raphaël Pichon. This CD has just been released.
With glowing reviews: Opus Klassiek writes: “…Yet another conductor and ensemble who have made history with this very well-known work (but what does ‘very well-known’ mean when there are always unexpected dimensions to be discovered in a score?)…”
Last year, Pichon performed the St John Passion at the Concertgebouw, and blew the roof off . So we are opening the week with this magnificent performance. And this one is slightly longer than we are used to, and therefore continues on Wednesday, March 25th, 2026, to the St Matthew Passion, also by Pygmalion under the direction of Raphaël Pichon, in a recording from 2022.
A Passion-with-Pichon week, then!
Want to know more about both Passions? Then listen to our podcast Bach & Co from the Concertzender, available on most podcast platforms.
No Day Without Bach broadcasts: Monday, March 23rd to Friday, March 27th, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Monday, March 30th to Friday, April 3rd, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (reruns)
View the playlist for March 23 here.
