Mittelrhein Musik Festival – La Notte Bendorf-Sayn

The Mittelrhein Musik Festival 2026 presents „La Notte“ on July 18, one of its most brilliant concert evenings in the Sayner Hütte Bendorf. The program is dedicated to „Notte“, the night – a recurring theme in Baroque music, reflected in arias, cantatas, and instrumental works between mysticism, lovesickness, longing, and deep religious sentiment.

At the center is the German soprano Marie-Sophie Pollak, an internationally acclaimed voice in the young Baroque scene. She has made a name for herself with performances at the Bavarian State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and through recordings of Baroque arias. Her repertoire ranges from Monteverdi and Cavalli to Händel, Vivaldi, and Bach – always with particular stylistic confidence and sonic beauty.

As the accompanying ensemble, Il Pomo D'Oro will be guests, one of the world's leading Baroque ensembles. Founded in 2012, Il Pomo D'Oro has set a standard through recordings with Joyce DiDonato, Jakub Józef Orliński, Maxim Emelyanychev, and Francesco Corti. The musicians play on historical instruments, offering the highest sonic authenticity.

The program combines four great composers of the Baroque era: Henry Purcell, the 17th-century English master of sonorous vocal works; Marc-Antoine Charpentier, the French composer of sacred and secular music; Georg Philipp Telemann, the North German universal composer; Georg Friedrich Händel with his grand Italian-influenced opera arias; and Antonio Vivaldi with his unmistakable Venetian sound world. The theme „Night“ connects the works into a dramatic arc.

The Sayner Hütte with its historic Foundry Hall provides the ideal backdrop for such a program: the cathedral-like structure of the three-nave cast-iron building, erected from 1830 onwards, creates an acoustic effect that convincingly supports both grand ensemble sound and intimate vocal passages. A concert evening for lovers of Baroque music and for anyone seeking exceptional spatial acoustics.