„She achieves nothing short of the miracle of intensification through restraint.”
- Concerti on Bach St. Matthew Passion
Johanna Soller is Artistic Leader of the Netherlands Bach Society and one of the most distinctive voices in historically informed performance today.
A conductor, harpsichordist and organist, she combines deep knowledge of the repertoire with a flair for programming and musical discovery, while her work extends well beyond the Baroque. In 2026, her recording of the cantatas of Johann Ludwig Bach with capella sollertia, the ensemble she founded, won the Gramophone Classical Music Award and the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German record critics’ award).
As a guest conductor, she has worked with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the B’Rock Orchestra, the Dunedin Consort, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Bachstiftung St. Gallen, the Munich Symphony Orchestra and Opera North. Future guest collaborations include the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Hallé Orchestra.
AGENDA
Agenda
Gramophone Classical Music Award & Recording of the Month
“Johanna Soller and capella sollertia engage unerringly with this extensive project… unceasing advocates for an oeuvre that has, until now, remarkably escaped our attention… The spirit of warmth and affection is especially evident when voices and orchestra dance around each other with their light, genial aplomb under Soller’s impressive direction.”
★★★★★ The Times
“It’s not every day that a classical recording company produces something that could be designated a boon to civilisation (…) The performers’ enjoyment of Ludwig’s music is palpable and discovering these 18 cantatas has given me five of the happiest hours of my listening life. Civilisation, take note.”
★★★★★ The Guardian
“This distant cousin’s music is a remarkable discovery. (…) Conductor Johanna Soller brings them to sensitive and vivid life.”
★★★★★ Diapason
“Quelle hauteur de vue et quelle autorité dans la mise en œuvre pour un groupe qui n’a que sept ans d’existence!”
Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Critics’ Award)
„Between February and September 1726, Johann Sebastian Bach performed 18 cantatas by his distant cousin Johann Ludwig Bach in Leipzig. Their characteristic blend of Italian cantabile style, French elegance, and the sermonic tone of Central German Protestantism comes across superbly in the complete recording by Capella Sollertia: soloists, choir, and orchestra perform in close coordination, shape the musical arcs with sensitivity and balance, and fully do justice to the many emotional nuances of this deeply moving music.“
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