The Six Brandenburg Concertos

During her 1980 stay in New York, in which she first rehearsed her celebrated Violin Phase to the music of Steve Reich, the only other recording playing in Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s studio was the Brandenburg Concertos by Bach. More than 35 years later, De Keersmaeker continues her work with this music. ‘Like no other, Bach’s music carries within itself movement and dance, managing to combine the greatest abstraction with a concrete, physical and, subsequently, even transcendental dimension.’

The Brandenburg Concertos consist of six concerti grossi in which Bach deploys the instruments in the baroque orchestra in varying and often daring constellations. De Keersmaeker immerses sixteen dancers from different Rosas generations in the music. Following Mitten wir im Leben sind/Bach6Cellosuiten, and Vortex Temporum, she again approaches the music as a dance score, resulting in Bach’s polyphonic virtuosity being embodied onstage. The baroque ensemble B’Rock performs the concertos live. Violinist Amandine Beyer, with whom De Keersmaeker previously collaborated on Partita 2, will conduct the orchestra.