J S Bach: Goldberg Variations

Jean Rondeau, celebrated contemporary ambassador for his instrument, plays the Goldberg Variations on harpsichord.

Composed (according to the title page) “for the soul’s delight of music lovers”, Bach’s Goldberg Variations fascinate every generation of musicians. This music reflects the world it finds itself in: past, present and future. The Goldberg Variations are 75 minutes of wildly virtuosic keyboard music: demanding, exacting, filled with glittering, intricate ornaments, but equally liberating for player and listener both. As Bach himself wrote, they were “composed for music-lovers to refresh their spirits” (reportedly in particular for warding off insomnia). Each of the 30 successive variations grows out of the previous one yet unfolds its own individual magic and drama, offering reassurance as well as exhilaration. We are thrilled to welcome outstanding musician Jean Rondeau to Bold Tendencies for the first time, to play the Goldberg Variations on the harpsichord – as they would have been when first played in 1741 by Bach’s student, 14-year-old harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg.

This event is supported by Scops Art Trust and the Continuo Foundation

Jean Rondeau is a soloist, recitalist, conductor and teacher, whose outstanding talent and innovative approach to keyboard repertoire have marked him out as one of today’s leading harpsichordists. 2024/25 season highlights include performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Brucknerhaus Linz, and Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia in Milan; Rondeau’s new improvisatory programme, Sisyphus, which he brings to the Berlin Philharmonie, Southbank Centre and Innsbruck Festwochen der Alten Musik; and UNDR, is a new creation inspired by the Goldberg Variations and composed by Rondeau in collaboration with drummer Tancrède Kummer, at the Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Dortmund, and AMR Geneva. In addition to his engagements as a soloist, recitalist and conductor, Rondeau is in high demand as a teacher. He is of the youngest performers ever to take First Prize at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges (MAfestival 2012), aged 21.