For ten days from tomorrow, the city of Leipzig will be buzzing with activity. The cafés will be full, flowers blooming and Festival bunting everywhere. It is the time of the Leipzig Bachfest. From 7-17 June there will be another feast of events this time around the theme 'From Monteverdi to Bach' and I will be attending the Festival from 13-17 June. The series not only includes some mouth-watering concerts and recitals, but brings together a variety of personalities from the Bach world globally. So it is time to re-kindle old friendships and for me, catch up with what's happening so that I can bring some of what I find back to London and to our Bachfest.

LBS first visited Bach's city of Leipzig in 1964, and a far-cry from the bustling, modern cultural centre of the post-communist era. LBS was the first cultural organisation to 'cross the Berlin Wall' and then made a return visit in 1983 for a British Council supported tour as part of the Martin Luther Year celebrations, with a Mass in B minor in Thomaskirche the highlight. Paul conducted our original choir and our existing orchestra, Steinitz Bach Players, in complete awe of the surroundings and greatly moved by the attentive audience, among whom (and unknown to us at the time) was a young music student destined later to become Thomaskantor and one of my kindred musical friends, Prof. Georg Christoph Biller.

In 1994, LBS hosted the first ever visit to the UK by the world-famous Thomanerchor Leipzig, directed by Prof. Biller. Bach held the post of Thomaskantor from 1723-1750 and composed most of his church music for the set of possibly unruly boys he had in his choir. Years later, we in LBS can testify to the professionalism of today's choir of 9-18 year old singers who joined us in London last November for our 60th anniversary celebrations.

All the famous locations associated with Bach are close by and will be the main venues used for the 2007 Leipzig Bachfest. With the festival series moved to the early summer month of June, there is an opportunity to see and enjoy them in warm sunshine - the last time I saw BBC weather for Leipzig the temps were approaching the 90 degree mark! There is a real sens of the Bach presence in the Thomaskirche where his remains are buried in the Chancel.

A few minutes' walk away there is also the historic Nikolaikirche where Bach's Johannes-Passion was first performed in 1724. I immediately recall that years later in 1989, the Nikolaikirche was a sanctuary where modern-day revolutionaries met to plan the eventual downfall of the distasteful communist regime in East Germany (DDR). What has arisen from that era is a city reborn, drawing upon its rich cultural heritage to welcome us.

More blogs to follow....
Margaret Steinitz