The harpsichord duo Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot opened Bachcelona Festival

Barcelona (ACN).- The Bachcelona Festival kicked off on Sunday with a concert by renowned harpsichord duo Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot at the Catalan capital's Palau de la Música concert hall. The performance included the famous ‘Art of Fugue,’ one of the most celebrated compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The festival, which is designed to showcase the work of the great composer, will run in Barcelona until 27 July 2014. Koopman, a specialist in Baroque music and great interpreter of Bach’s work, gave attendees an intense and enjoyable musical evening, and was accompanied by his wife Mathot. The pair are noted for the authenticity of their performances, which sometimes even use exact replicas of instruments used by Bach.

“The best interpretation in the world of one of the most recognised works.” With these words, the famous harpsichord duo Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot opened the first concert of the second edition of the Bachcelona Festival on a stage at the Palau de la Música, Barcelona's famous Art-Nouveau concert hall.

Second edition of the music festival Bachcelona

This second edition of Bachcelona, a festival organised by the Bach Zum Mitsingen Association, will examine Bach’s work more closely, through concerts, lectures, an art exhibition and a dance activity at the Plaça del Rei.

The festival will offer a more extensive schedule and will make use of the most emblematic venues of Barcelona, such as the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, the Grand Theatre of Liceu, the Cathedral and the Palau de la Música.

The work, 'Die Kunst der Fuge,' or ‘the Art of Fugue’ by J.S.Bach, considered by Malcolm Boyd to be the “more intangible, more aesthetic and utterly musical than anything else the human mind has imagined”, was the protagonist of Sunday’s opening concert

The Dutch musicians won strong applause from the audience at the end of the concert. At the interval, many members of the audience took great interest in the unusual yet dramatic harpsichord owned by Koopman, which travels with him to every concert.

Koopman, probably the greatest specialist in Bach

Koopman, a musicologist and conductor, specialises in Baroque music, especially Bach. Among his most ambitious projects was his recording of the complete cycle of all the Baroque composer´s cantatas, a project he only managed to finish in 2005.

Koopman’s goal, as he outlined in a recent press release, is “always to give an authentic interpretation” using exact replicas of the historical instruments of Bach's time. The musician is considered one of the world’s greatest exponents of Baroque music.

In addition to the works of Bach, Koopman has long been an advocate of the music of Bach's predecessor, Dieterich Buxtehude. He is married to Tini Mathot, who is also an accomplished harpsichordist and pianist. The two often perform together, as they did on this occasion.

Koopman's extensive discography includes the complete Bach cantatas and organ works, the Passion of St Matthew and the Passion of St John, Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio, a recording of his own reconstruction of the Passion according to St. Mark, concerts and works for the harpsichord by Bach, as well as Mozart’s ‘Requiem,’ Vivaldi’s ‘the Four Seasons,’ and Handel’s ‘Messiah,’ among others. Koopman has received multiple awards for his recordings and has performed in major concert halls around the world.