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Jubileumconcert Haags Barokgezelschap

200 Cantata Services: A Hague Bach Traditio
Sat 9 Jan / 14:00 - 15:00
Sat 9 Jan ’27
14:00 - 15:00
  • Sat 9 Jan ’27
    14:00 - 15:00
    Tribunetrap (stairs ground floor)
    Free walk in

The Haags Barokgezelschap (HBG) is a project choir and orchestra based at the Nieuwe Badkapel in Scheveningen. Its artistic director and conductor is Gilles Michels.

Founded in 1985 by Jaap Hillen, the HBG consists of enthusiastic and experienced amateur musicians. Our focus is on Baroque works for choir and orchestra, particularly those by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Six times a year, we perform as part of cantata services at the Nieuwe Badkapel. Five of these Bach cantatas can also be heard at the Dorpskerk in Wassenaar. Around Easter, we perform Bach’s St Matthew Passion or St John Passion. During the Christmas season, our programme features works such as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio or Handel’s Messiah.

Our concert archive shows that the HBG has also performed works from periods beyond the Baroque, including Brahms’ Requiem. We have also had the pleasure of performing at venues throughout the Netherlands and abroad.

 

Programme

Bach – St Matthew Passion (version for a single orchestra)

No. 29: O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß
Chorales from the St Matthew Passion:No. 10: Ich bin’s, ich sollte büßen
No. 37: Wer hat dich so geschlagen
No. 54: O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden


No. 68: Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder

Bach – Vivaldi (performed continuously as a kind of suite)

Johann Bernhard Bach: Overture No. 4 in D major, first movement
Vivaldi: Gloria
Bach: Sicut locutus est (from the Magnificat)
Bach: Dona nobis pacem (from the Mass in B minor)

Encore

Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (BWV 147)

 

In 2026, the Haags Barokgezelschap celebrated its 200th cantata service, a milestone marked throughout the year with special festivities and culminating in a gift to the city: a presentation at Amare.

On 16 December 1984, the Haags Barokgezelschap performed its first Bach cantata at the Oude Kerk in Voorburg, conducted by Jaap Hillen, the founder of the HBG. This marked the beginning of a tradition spanning decades, which the HBG musicians continue with great passion and dedication. Since 1989, alongside its concert series, the ensemble has performed six cantata services a year: in the morning at the Nieuwe Badkapel in Scheveningen and in the evening at the Dorpskerk in Wassenaar.

In 2008, shortly before his death, Jaap Hillen passed the baton to Gilles Michels, having conducted exactly 100 cantata services. Gilles reached that same milestone on 10 May – a remarkable achievement that was also celebrated this year!

 

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