John Eliot Gardiner

It has been said that Mozart shows us what it is to be human, Beethoven what it is to be Beethoven, and Bach what it is to be the universe. But what was it like to be Bach? In person, he seemed remarkably ordinary, even opaque and often intemperate – yet his influence on Western music is inestimable and his genius unfathomable. There can be no one better matched to the challenge of writing his biography than John Eliot Gardiner – one of his leading interpreters, and a conductor ranking among the greatest in the world.

Music in the Castle of Heaven is a monumental biography that explains in wonderful detail how Bach worked, how his music is constructed, how it achieves its effects, and what this tells us about the man himself. John Eliot Gardiner will bring his great knowledge and great passion to this evening, which will provide an array of answers for for anyone interested in the life of Bach or simply in awe of his musical legacy.