Jan Vogler’s Bach suites are all the rage – live in concert halls and online in Instagram reels

From baroque to Instagram vlogs: Johann Sebastian Bach‘s suites for solo cello are not only a hit in classical concert halls. Jan Vogler‘s recording of the prélude of Bach’s first suite for cello in G major has been used over 360,000 times (status 13.01.2025) by users for their reels on Instagram – making it currently by far the most successful Bach recording on the social media channel.

The topics and types of content that are combined with Bach’s famous composition in the digital world are as diverse as the 360,000 Instagram channels themselves. Whether in Asia, Europe or America, there are virtually no limits to its creative use. Bach’s music prevails and works as background music for content about designer fashion, babies, vacation vlogs, tutorials or animals, proving how timeless his music still is today.

“Bach’s music is simple and complicated at the same time. It is so brilliantly composed that you get the impression that it clears your head and makes everything easy – so it gets you through your everyday life and conveys emotions, and yet it is incredibly ingeniously constructed. This combination is unique in the history of music,” says cellist Jan Vogler about the six cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The six cello suites are considered the supreme discipline for all cellists. Jan Vogler has spent his career intensively exploring the work and influence of Johann Sebastian Bach, recording and rediscovering the suites for SONY Classical in 2013 based on the manuscript by Bach’s wife Anna Magdalena and presenting them several times on the world’s major stages, including such prominent duo partners as US poet Amanda Gorman and Hollywood actor Bill Murray. In the Bach Year 2025, Jan Vogler will now bring all six suites to the stage in Germany and present them at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (March 8) and the Philharmonie Berlin (April 26).

March 4, 2025 Schloss Elmau, 5 pm (Suite 1-3)

March 6, 2025 Schloss Elmau, 5 pm (Suite 4-6)

March 8, 2025 Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Großer Saal, 11 am (Suite 1-6)

April 26, 2025 Philharmonie Berlin, Kammermusiksaal, 7 pm (Suite 1-6)

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Jan Vogler presents Bach Cello Suites in Hamburg and Berlin (January 2025)

A highlight of cellist and intendant of the Dresdener Musikfestspiele Jan Vogler in 2024 was a special concert he presented with US poet Amanda Gorman. Together they created a concert evening with Bach’s cello suites matching Gorman’s poetry which was presented in 2024 at Carnegie Hall in New York City and later that year on Stephen Colbert’s Late Night Show. The label Capriccio also released Miloslav Kabeláč’s complete chamber music oeuvre on CD for the first time, with the participation of Jan Vogler.

In January 2025, Jan Vogler will be a guest at the Classicameri Festival in Eilat, Israel, of which Omer Meir Wellber is Artistic Director. Following his focus on Bach in 2024, Jan Vogler will present two special solo concerts in March and April 2025 in Germany: on March 8 at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and on April 26 at the Berlin Philharmonie, Jan Vogler will play all six of Bach’s cello suites. Performances with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Brass and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra will follow in May.

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Jan Vogler & Amanda Gorman: An Evening of Poetry and Bach (February 2024)

On Saturday, February 17, cellist Jan Vogler and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman performed together at Carnegie Hall in New York, presenting a joint concert evening: Amanda Gorman’s contemporary poetry met the 300-year-old music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Together, Gorman and Vogler explored the meeting of these two worlds, building a bridge between Bach’s immortal music and Gorman’s visionary poetry. Jan Vogler played Bach’s first, third and fifth cello suites while Amanda Gorman recited her poems.

“We’re bringing something from the past into a modern, contemporary feel. And we’re doing it with poetry that I have never performed with music before,” says Amanda Gorman

“Poetry, there’s this in between the words, and with music, it’s the same — in between the notes, actually, the real message happens,” says Jan Vogler. “The whole Bach suites are about humanity, about feelings, about lows and highs.”

Amanda Gorman is a young American poet, writer and activist who performed her poem “The Hill We Climb” at Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. With her then 22 years, she was the youngest poet ever to perform at the inauguration of a US president.

Amanda Gorman & Jan Vogler, February 17, 2024 (c) Chris Lee

Jan Vogler: Concerts with Amanda Gorman and at the Dresdner Musikfestspielen (February 2024)

After cellist and director of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele Jan Vogler has devoted himself very much to contemporary composers in recent years (including Three Continents by Nico Muhly, Sven Helbig, Zhou Long and the world premiere of Sean Sheperd’s On a clear day in New York), he is embarking on a new musical journey: on February 17th with a special concert format with inaugural-poet Amanda Gorman. Together they will perform a concert evening with Bach’s cello suites and spoken word at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

In May, Jan Vogler will perform a program with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under the direction of Anna Rakitina with works by Miklós Rózsa, an important Hungarian-American film composer. On June 4, Jan Vogler will play Anna Clyne’s cello concerto Dance with the London Philharmonia Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Both concerts belong to this year’s program of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele.

Amanda Gorman & Jan Vogler at Carnegie Hall (October 2023)

History-making Presidential inaugural poet and bestselling author Amanda Gorman and internationally acclaimed cellist Jan Vogler share the stage for the first time at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 8pm, in an evening of spoken word and music featuring the award-winning poetry of Ms. Gorman and the Cello Suites of J.S. Bach, offering a message of hope and humanity. Tickets are on sale today. 

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Jan Vogler’s video interview at the TANCKSTELLE (June 2023)

TANCKSTELLE with Jan Vogler and Fanny Tanck – “In this episode (16) the well-known cellist, music missionary and festival founder/leader Jan Vogler makes a stop to fill up his inner tancks. What is a commissioned work? What does a world premiere feel like? And what does living between two musical worlds, the USA and Germany, bring about? That’s what we talk about over a glass of tasty-savory berry juice. The cello is keeping us company. Jan Vogler gives an exclusive performance of: a bit of Sean Shepherd and the “Sarabande” from Bachs Cello Suite Nr.1.”

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