The Unfinished Paradise – Motets full of comfort and reassurance | zamus: early music festival 2026

Karin Freist-Wissing – Conductor

VOX BONA Choir

Fiete Wulff – Cello

Thomas Dreiseidler – bassoon

Rafael Clément – double bass

George Warren – organ

Is there a paradise? Does it exist in an afterlife? Music can paint anything: intense images of horror, paradisiacal landscapes, tears and consolation. The Bach family experienced war, suffering and death. In three motets by Johann Christoph, Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Bach, spanning different generations, the VOX BONA chamber choir discovers touching hope between the lines, even in the face of a death far too early. How do the images of an afterlife in the Romantic era and in our own time compare? Johannes Brahms’ motet ‘Warum ist das Licht gegeben’ speaks of abysmal grief and despair. And yet, here too, hope prevails in the end. In very different musical languages, Albert Becker’s ‘Bleibe bei uns’ and Sven-David Sandström’s ‘In paradisum’ express a profound longing for comfort and security.

---

Motets by Johann Christoph Bach, Johannes Brahms, Friedrich Kiel, Albert Becker, Sven-David Sandström and Eric Whitacre.

€22/€14 each plus booking fees

Tickets available online via zamusfestival.de and zamus.de, by telephone on +49 221 9874 38 21 (Mon, Wed, Fri 10:00–14:00) and in person at the Neumarkt Theatre Box Office (Mon–Sat 10:00–18:30, ticket hotline +49 221 42 07 6000 or via tickets@theaterkasse-neumarkt.de)

Instagram: zamus_koeln

Facebook: zentrumfueraltemusik

YouTube: zamus: centre for early music

www.zamusfestival.de