Anyone who still associates Ghent's Whitsun weekend with folklore and crowds will discover in Cydonia Barocca one of the most idiosyncratic baroque initiatives in Flanders. Cydonia Barocca has been choosing for years a course that runs counter to classical concert practice: not a repertoire carousel of famous masterworks, but a thoughtful, almost stubborn exploration of rarely heard repertoire. In 2026 too, that principle remains standing, with the oboe as a guiding thread.
The principle is as simple as it is radical. Three composers – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) and Christoph Graupner (1683-1760) – form again this year, from Saturday 23 to Monday 25 May, the fixed frame of reference, but are each time illuminated from a single instrument. That forces choices, and above all the abandonment of routine. Well-known works give way to rarely heard compositions, and performers are brought together in temporary constellations that generate curiosity rather than routine.
Central to all this is Florian Heyerick, the driving force behind the festival. His role is difficult to sum up in one word: he is simultaneously curator, conductor, narrator and – not least – instigator of musical curiosity. Heyerick's years-long commitment to the oeuvre of Graupner resonates here too, but without ever becoming doctrinaire. On the contrary, he builds programmes that ask questions rather than provide answers.
The 2026 edition pushes the oboe forward as a dramaturgical instrument. This proves to be no optional choice. In baroque repertoire, the oboe occupies a special place: as soloist, as colour in the orchestra, and as a rhetorical instrument that makes the theory of affects almost tangible. Its sound – both penetrating and vulnerable – serves here as a guide through the programme.
That programme unfolds as a carefully constructed intellectual movement. The opening concert "De profundis aut de caelis?" immediately sets the tone with an exploration of the expressive extremes of the oboe in Bach, Telemann and Graupner. Subsequent lectures such as "Bach and the oboe?", "Telemann and the oboe?" and "Graupner and the oboe?" deepen the historical and stylistic context, without lapsing into academic dryness.
Chamber music receives a prominent place in concerts such as "Petite musique de chambre?" and "All of Telemann?", where the oboe reveals itself as a partner in dialogue rather than as a virtuosic showpiece. The closing concert "Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt?" brings the instrument in its most rhetorical guise, embedded in cantatas where vocal and instrumental lines interweave.
Also remarkable is the opening outside the strict baroque context. In the family concert "Double Trouble?" the world of the double reed is opened out to other styles, with a nod to both renaissance and jazz. In doing so, the focus shifts from purely historically informed performance to a broader musical practice in which improvisation and contemporary playing techniques also have their place. This typifies a festival that is not afraid to explore boundaries, as long as musical integrity remains intact.
As always, Cydonia Barocca is more than a series of concerts. Presentations, an open stage for (baroque) oboists and informal meetings form an integral part of the experience. The audience is not served, but challenged – and that is precisely where the strength of the concept lies.
Cydonia Barocca 2026 confirms what the festival has been suggesting for years: the baroque is not a closed past, but a living workshop. In that workshop, the oboe this time becomes the compass – less soloist than a guiding element in listening itself.
And then there is that quince, after which the festival is named: a silent guide that leads you from one refreshing and sometimes unexpected culinary discovery to another. In its roundness, fullness and soft intensity, it mirrors something of the tangible beauty of German baroque – an aesthetic that wants not only to be heard, but also tasted and experienced. Klassiek Centraal is already looking forward to this journey of discovery and will report on some concerts in the coming weeks.
