Home › Night › Urban after dark › Progetto Bach · Vicenza
Bach concerts in Italy
The Vicenza bach tradition
The great choral works, historical instruments and two seasons of Bach in Palladio’s city
For listeners who plan a journey around Bach’s St Matthew Passion or Mass in B minor, Vicenza offers the prospect of hearing these works inside Andrea Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico. Progetto Bach brought two choirs and two Baroque orchestras to the Renaissance theatre for the Passion in 2024, followed by the Mass in 2025. Established in 2000 under Michael Radulescu and Margherita Dalla Vecchia, the project also celebrates Bach’s birthday each March with music in the city’s churches, museums and palaces.
Know before you go
Progetto Bach presents major concerts and related events at different times of the year. Choose your visit around a confirmed performance, then check its venue, start time and ticket arrangements. Admission to the Teatro Olimpico as a visitor is separate from admission to a concert. Concert information and reservations +39 320 1424747 WhatsApp +39 320 1424747 Email associazione.mousike@alice.it
About
For more than a quarter of a century, Vicenza has cultivated a Bach tradition of unusual scale: historically informed performance, period instruments, more than 800 musicians, international conductors, soloists and scholars, and some of the composer’s most demanding sacred works. Its ceremonial centre is Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico. Here the Matthäus Passion has been performed with soloists, double choir and two Baroque orchestras beneath Scamozzi’s permanent Renaissance streets, a setting of painted perspectives, stone architecture and extraordinary theatrical depth. The names around the project have included Michael Radulescu, Diego Fasolis and Norway’s Barokkanerne, alongside musicians and scholars from the wider European and international early music world. The Annuario della Critica Musicale Italiana described Progetto Bach as “un unicum in Italia.”
The musicians behind the project ↓
The project developed under Michael Radulescu and Margherita Dalla Vecchia. Radulescu, the organist, composer and conductor, taught at Vienna’s University of Music and Performing Arts from 1968 to 2008, attracting students from around the world through his interpretation of Bach. Dalla Vecchia continues the work in Vicenza with Il Teatro Armonico. According to the organisers, more than 800 musicians have participated in the project’s study, rehearsal and performance activities over the years, using instruments modelled on historical originals.
Bach’s birthday across Vicenza ↓
March brings Buon Compleanno Bach, “Happy Birthday Bach”, the city’s contribution to European Early Music Day. Concerts and listening sessions take place in churches, museums and historic palaces, giving visitors several opportunities to hear the music while exploring Vicenza. The 2026 programme included performances at Gallerie d’Italia, housed in Palazzo Leoni Montanari, and concluded with the St John Passion at the Basilica of Saints Felix and Fortunatus on 22 March. Admission arrangements differ between the smaller events and the major choral performances.
The autumn concerts ↓
The twenty sixth edition, L’Olimpo di Bach, pairs Cantatas BWV 213 and BWV 29 at the Teatro Olimpico on 31 October and 1 November 2026. The programme connects Bach’s music with the theatre’s imagery of Hercules, a subject also explored in an introductory talk at Palazzo Leoni Montanari on 3 October. For a visitor planning an autumn stay, the concerts and accompanying talks offer the opportunity to spend time with both the music and the art surrounding its performance.
Music beyond the Bach programme ↓
Mousikè’s wider concert calendar also includes music in villas and other historic buildings across the province of Vicenza. These events belong to its broader activity and have their own programmes: in 2026, for example, Villa Cordellina Lombardi hosted Chopin, while an October concert at Villa Zileri Motterle was announced as a musical journey from the chapel to the room decorated by Tiepolo. Check the repertoire as well as the address when choosing an evening.