Pieces performed
JS Bach:
Nun kommt der Heiden Heiland BWV 659
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 645
Schmücke Dich, ob liebe Seele BWV 654
Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565

On 28 Jul 2000, a remarkable 24-hour concert of Bach's music was staged in Leipzig to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its most famous musical son.

Part of the broadcasts on that day was a concert by the genial Dutch musician Ton Koopman, playing the Silbermann organ in Freiberg Cathedral, Saxony.

That instrument was chosen because it is the world's closest surviving organ to ones Bach would have known. Made in 1714, it is the oldest surviving organ by Silbermann (whose fortepianos Bach was familiar with) and an outstanding example of a baroque organ, boasting one of the most splendid tones in Europe.


Koopman is the ideal organist to evoke the spirit of Bach on such an instrument. He performs internationally as an organist, harpsichordist, conductor and specialises in music of the baroque period. He teaches at the Conservatories of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and, in 1979, together with other European instrumental musicians, he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, which he still conducts today.

Koopman plays four Bach works including probably the most familiar piece of organ music in the repertoire: the Toccata and Fugue in D minor.