JS Bach's six Suites for Solo Cello are pillars of classical music, famously popularised by Pablo Casals: "they are the very essence of Bach, and Bach is the essence of music".

Van Diemen's Band is proud to present one of the world's great musicians, virtuoso gamba player Paolo Pandolfo, in an Australian exclusive performance of the six Suites - adapted for viola da gamba by Pandolfo himself.

Hailed as ‘one of the most brilliant and poetic of the instrument's current exponents’ (Gramophone), Pandolfo's adaption of the six Suites for gamba are a milestone in the history of Bach's music, bringing a fresh new interpretation to these iconic works.

Full of thoughtfulness and imagination, Pandolfo's revelatory version traverses the borders between the 'old world' of the gamba and the new one of the cello‚ throwing a new light onto that older world to summon the ‘ancient footsteps’ which echo through the solo gamba repertoire and on into Bach’s bright new cello dawn.

Pandolfo will perform the six Suites over two remarkable concerts:

Concert 1 (2pm), which features Suites 1, 5 and 3, requires a separate ticket.

Concert 2 (6pm) features Suites 4, 2 and 6.

Ticket packages are also available for both concerts together.

Please note that there are two different ticket types - Premium and Standard - denoting different seating areas within the venue. Seating within each of these areas is unallocated. Click here to view the seating map.

About the artist

Paolo Pandolfo is one of the world's leading viola da gamba soloists. His passionate love for the viola da gamba led him to deepen and research all aspects of the instrument.

After significant experiences in both Jazz and classical music, he entered the world of Early Music around 1979 together with violinist Enrico Gatti and harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini, studying with Jordi Savall at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. From 1982 until 1990 he was a member of Savall's ensemble Hesperion XX and performed with them throughout the world, making hundreds of concerts and dozens of recordings, playing an extremely wide repertory going from early Renaissance to late Baroque.

In 1990 he published the C.P.E. Bach Sonatas for viola da gamba, giving a start to his world career as a soloist. In the same year he was appointed professor at his alma mater, continuing and forwarding the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis tradition of international excellence for research and pedagogy of the viola da gamba.

He released a large number of CDs, mainly concentrating on the soloistic viol repertoire (Marais, Forqueray, St.Colombe, T.Hume, C.F.Abel, J.S.Bach, De Machy, Couperin, etc.).

His adaptation of J.S. Bach's Six Solo Suites for the viol became immediately a “must” for any complete Bach discography.