Looking at his dramatic and emotional passions and cantatas, you can imagine that Bach would also have been a fantastic opera composer. That almost happened. Challenged by that thought, OPERA2DAY and the Dutch Bach Society created the opera that Bach never wrote.
The opera tells the true story of Jan van Leyden. This actor, tavern owner and tailor became the leader of a movement in the sixteenth century that proclaimed that the world would end. A utopia was established. It radicalized and became a dictatorship. We follow Jan from his initial enthusiasm, through his flamboyant and ruthless kingship to his final confession on death row. We experience from within how the timeless mechanisms of populism, polarization and radicalization operate.
The story comes to life with overwhelming and emotional music by Bach. Scriptwriter and director Serge van Veggel turned the work into a truly fully composed opera with librettist Thomas Höft and baroque specialist and modern composer Panos Iliopoulos. Thanks to a compelling and grand staging, an excellent cast and the choir and orchestra of the Netherlands Bach Society led by Hernán Schvartzman, Bach will be heard and seen like never before.Opera2Day en J.S. Bach – de Apocalyps