In the first year, in 1947, the festival was held at the palace
Schloss Weißenstein in Pommersfelden. the
Residenz Ansbach (also called Markgrafenschloss), where concerts were held at the Orangerie in the garden Hofgarten and in the Festsaal (Great hall). , painting by
Carlo Carlone Other main venues are the churches
St. Gumbertus and
St. Johannis. A few concerts are offered in other halls. In the beginning the Munich art dealer Carl Weymar, the cellist Ludwig Hoelscher and the conductor Ferdinand Leitner invited friends to perform. They were able to attract guests such as violinists
Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Yehudi Menuhin, pianist
Wilhelm Kempff, flutist
Aurèle Nicolet, singers
Peter Pears and
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. An orchestra of soloists formed the backbone of the festival week. In 1955, Peter Pears was one of the first non-Germans invited, he appeared again in 1959, 1963 and 1964. From 1955 to 1964 the festival was directed by harpsichordist and conductor Karl Richter, originally an organist here. From 2001 Lotte Thaler was artistic director. She set new standards by set themes ("Bach und Stravinsky"), included more music of the 20th century and included talks, children's concert and jazz. Since 2006,
Andreas Bomba has been the director, leading the 60 anniversary season in 2007. The 2011 Bachwoche was opened with a
Bach cantata service in St. Gumbertus, including a performance of
Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, BWV 93. Cantatas
BWV 1,
BWV 48,
BWV 78,
BWV 117,
BWV 124,
BWV 140 and
BWV 147 were performed in concerts by the
Windsbacher Knabenchor, conducted by
Karl-Friedrich Beringer, with soloists
Sibylla Rubens,
Ingeborg Danz,
Rebecca Martin,
Markus Schäfer and
Klaus Mertens. Artists have included
Andreas Scholl, the
Münchner Kammerorchester and the
Ensemble Resonanz. The week was concluded with a performance of Bach's
Mass in B minor by the
Dresdner Kammerchor and the Dresdner Barockorchester, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann. ==See also==