Awarding of the Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig 2026
In September 2025, the J. S. Bach Foundation learned that it will receive the 2026 Bach Medal from the city of Leipzig. The Bach Medal is the highest honor awarded by the city of Leipzig in the field of music. This recognition fills us with gratitude and joy for the acknowledgment of our work over the past 20 years.
The Bachfest Leipzig writes in its program booklet for June 2026:
THE J. S. BACH FOUNDATION OF ST. GALLEN TO RECEIVE THE CITY OF LEIPZIG BACH MEDAL – AND TO PRESENT THEIR GREATEST CANTATA MOMENTS
Twenty years ago, the J. S. Bach Foundation launched an ambitious project: to perform all Bach cantatas. Since then, they have performed one cantata a month – each one twice, with a pause for reflection and packaged together with a vivid introduction to the work. Exquisitely captured in image and sound, these recordings have come to be considered as the absolute online authority where Bach cantatas are concerned. For their standard-setting outreach work, the Foundation is now to receive the City of Leipzig Bach Medal. The award ceremony will simultaneously be a presentation of the matter at the very core of this magnificent undertaking. Because the Bach Foundation protagonists – its founder Konrad Hummler, its conductor Rudolf Lutz and many of the longstanding, gold-standard singers – will look back at the most moving moments of their journey through the universe of Bach cantatas and for us perform their own list of hits. Congratulations!
The ceremony will take place on Monday, 15 June 2026, at 1:00 p.m. in the Paulinum – Aula and University Church of St. Paul.
Details about the awarding of the medal can be found on page 29 of the Bachfest Leipzig program booklet.
Bach Medal
