Johann Sebastian Bach

Works by Bach have been central to the Hall’s repertoire since its earliest days, when legendary violinist Eugène Ysaÿe and composer-pianist Busoni played the Violin Sonata No. 5 in F minor BWV1018 at the first ever concert held here on 31 May 1901. Since then, audiences at Wigmore Hall have heard Bach on every possible instrument including piano, harpsichord, violin, cello, flute, guitar, in song and occasionally something more unexpected – like Bach on the theremin in 1936, or, during the Second World War, Bach on a banjo. Today, he remains at the heart of the Hall’s programming, as evidenced in recent series by Angela Hewitt and Mahan Esfahani.