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Barroco na Bahia is a German-Brazilian project in the field of youth work in Salvador da Bahia. With classical music and a socio-cultural approach, an attempt is made to convey the values of humanism to young people from the city's middle and lower classes with the help of vocal and choral music and joint work on larger projects up to opera.
In 1992 the then cardinal archbishop of Salvador Lucas Moreira Neves invited Hans Bönisch from the diocese of Mainz to the revival of church music. First, the non-profit association Barock in Bahia e.V. was founded with German sponsors, whose first task was to install a small pipe organ in the cathedral of Salvador. In addition to building the organ, the first projects were the founding of a choir Coro Barroco na Bahia and an orchestra. Later, other cultural activities were added, such as various courses for young people on restoration, languages, music, instruments or history.
In January 1993, Hans Bönisch founded the choir and the orchestra and inaugurated the organ on January 17, 1993 with his brother Peter Bönisch on the trumpet as part of a festive concert for trumpet and organ. Since March 1993 there have been regular performances and concerts. Among other things, the Holy Week is festively musically designed every year with soloists, choir, organ and orchestra.
Since 1993 there have also been regular concerts in the Cathedral of Salvador and in the concert hall of the cultural center Barroco na Bahia, as well as major performances with choir, soloists and orchestra several times a year. Under the direction of cathedral conductor Hans Bönisch, works such as the Weihnachts-Oratorium by Johann Sebastian Bach and the Requiem by Mozart are performed almost every year, along with other major choral works. Opera performances have been added since 1997.
In 1995 and 1996, a former colonial city villa was renovated in cooperation with the European Center for the Preservation of Monuments by Raesfeld Castle and the Federal Foreign Office and handed over to the Barroco na Bahia project. In April 2004, the first extension to the cultural center was completed with the help of KfW Development Bank; The new Art Nouveau building houses the new concert hall (Sala Dom Lucas Moreira Neves) as well as offices, guest rooms and workshops.
Goals
Barroco na Bahia aims in particular to revitalize classical church music (Musica Sacra) in Salvador da Bahia. The center of the work is the historic cathedral of Salvador, a Jesuit Baroque building from the 17th and 18th centuries. The main activities of the project are the Sunday church concerts in the cathedral, the choral work with the chamber choir Coro Barroco na Bahia (currently with around 40 young people), the organ installed in the cathedral (two manuals and pedal with 25 registers), the event of German operas in the Castro Alves State Theater in Salvador (twelve operas have already been staged between 1997 and 2008) and the cultural center, a renovated colonial city villa from the early 20th century. Choir rehearsals, courses and other events take place there.
In recent years, 985 concerts, twelve opera productions and numerous courses in music, theater and languages have been organised, including invitations from German choirs. The project does not receive any financial support from the Catholic Church, but is organized purely privately, in particular through donations, and maintains its own cultural center. The small hotel Pousada Barroco na Bahia has existed since 2006, the proceeds of which also flow into the cultural work.
In 2004 Hans Bönisch received the Medal of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
International opera productions: L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio (1997); W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (1998); Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel (1999); W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2000); Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz (2001); Richard Wagner's Parsifal (2002); W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (2003); Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus (2004); C.M. von Weber's Der Freischütz (2005); Bedřich Smetana's The Bartered Bride (2006); Giacomo Puccini's Tosca (2006); G. Puccini's Tosca (2008, Re-staging). |
