Echoes of Eternity: Interview With Ton Koopman On Itinéraire Baroque

Every summer, the tranquil villages of France’s Périgord Vert awaken to the vibrant strains of Baroque music, transforming the serene countryside into a hub of cultural and musical activities. Decades ago, the world-renowned musician Ton Koopman and his wife, harpsichordist Tini Mathot, purchased a dilapidated house in the region, embarking on a wondrous journey of restoration and community engagement.

Itinéraire Baroque en Périgord

Itinéraire Baroque

Itinéraire Baroque

As Koopman eloquently noted, “this rural expanse, with its charming villages nestled along winding rivers and scattered across a landscape inhabited since prehistoric times, holds a timeless allure.” In 2001, in partnership with local psychologist Robert-Nicolas Huet, Koopman founded the “Itinéraire Baroque” festival as a testament to the region’s rich heritage, bringing together music lovers and performers to revel in the splendours of Baroque artistry amidst the picturesque backdrop of Périgord Vert.

Among tranquil stone-built villages and medieval churches, Koopman has crafted a remarkable Festival that harmoniously blends music with the region’s architecture. Initially, it was conceived as a one-day pilgrimage of concerts through quaint parish churches. It has since blossomed into a vibrant four-day event, drawing roughly 3,000 visitors each year.

The heart of the Périgord Vert’s Baroque Festival is Saturday’s “Itinéraire,” the vibrant centrepiece that lends the event its name and spirit. After a dedicated ensemble performance, festivalgoers embark on a journey, weaving through the region’s forgotten Romanesque churches. Each group savours a series of four “taster” concerts, each an exquisite Baroque
amuse-bouche, while performers remain stationed in their respective churches.

Ensemble Sirocco at Itinéraire Baroque

Ton Koopman

In recognition of his contributions to French cultural heritage and the founding of the Festival, the French government awarded Koopman a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. Of course, commendations flowed as naturally as his music when Ton Koopman celebrated his 80th birthday in 2024.

With a twinkle in his eye, Koopman shared a mischievous confession. “Everybody expected me to perform Bach, but I decided to surprise them with Handel’s Esther, an oratorio featuring a formidable female heroine!” Koopman is following up in 2025 with an exhilarating tour of Handel’s Deborah, another gripping oratorio centred on an awe-inspiring female protagonist.

Ton Koopman has been a towering figure in early music, a lifelong advocate for historically informed performances. For Koopman, HIP is not a rigid doctrine but a dynamic process rooted in the concentrated study of historical sources and period instruments, all blended with artistic intuition. As he explained, “it’s all about breathing life into the notes by understanding the composer’s world.” It’s all about finding some truths, “not all the truths, but some.”

Ton Koopman at 80: Handel’s Esther

A Passion for Bach and Beyond

Itinéraire Baroque 2013 performance

Ton Koopman’s engagement with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is a cornerstone of his legacy, blending meticulous scholarship with a passionate and human touch. For Koopman, the “compositions of Bach are profound expressions of both technical genius and emotional depth.” Among his monumental projects is a recording of the complete Bach cantatas, and his commitment to clarity, rhythmic precision, and expressive phrasing made each work feel immediate and alive.

Ton Koopman has described his involvement in reconstructing Bach’s lost St. Mark Passion as a humbling endeavour, noting that the project “makes you feel really small.” Immersed in Bach’s musical genius for decades, Koopman also found a composer who was “warm and approachable, but one who was not afraid to speak his mind.”

There have been plenty of other projects since, including recordings and performances of the music of Buxtehude, Biber, Stölzel, Telemann and Graupner, names that in the historiography of music are not really household items. However, for Koopman, “names are not really important.” Since everybody composed in a completely different style, Koopman is looking to “gain fresh insights into the diverse and incredibly varied cultural and musical landscape of the 18th century.”

Ton Koopman and Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir Perform J. S. Bach: Ascension Cantata

Visions for Sustaining a Vibrant Legacy

Itinéraire Baroque 2013 performance

Itinéraire Baroque continues to blossom as Koopman and Huet are non-salaried, purely driven by a shared love for the Festival and its music. Fortunately, “we no longer need to think about audiences because they are there,” he notes, “but we want to keep them there as well.” Finding a successor to lead the festival, on the other hand, will be challenging, “as it requires not just passion but a willingness to live locally without the promise of great monetary riches.” No worries, however, as Koopman intends to lead the festival for many years to come.

Koopman no longer plays the opening concert, but the Festival continues to showcase a carefully curated programme, which includes a performance of all four Bach Orchestral Suites with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 2025. And I’ve heard that a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is in the pipeline.

Koopman’s philosophy extends beyond performance to sustaining the vitality of early music. Ever the musicologist, librarian, scholar and educator, Koopman encourages young ensembles to delve into library archives and revive anonymous compositions, believing that “great, beautiful music” still awaits performance.

The 2025 Festival runs from 26 July through 3 August: https://www.itinerairebaroque.com/