Oboist Marcel Ponseele Wins 2025 Bach Medal 

Presented by the City of Leipzig, the medal recognizes Ponseele’s interpretations of Bach’s works on Baroque oboe

Awarded to musicians and ensembles since 2003, the Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig honors those who have contributed significantly to the work of J.S. Bach. 

The 2025 medal has been awarded to the Belgian oboist Marcel Ponseele, one of the leading Baroque oboists for more than 40 years. 

Ponseele was presented the award by Mayor of Leipzig Burkhard Jung and Bach-Archiv Director Peter Wollny at the recent Leipzig Bach Festival, where he also performed with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.

Born in 1957 in Belgium, Ponseele studied oboe and chamber music at the conservatories of Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels.

Since winning the Musica Antiqua competition in Bruges in 1981, he has played in numerous baroque orchestras, including La Petite Bande, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, La Chapelle Royale, and Collegium Vocale Gent.

Additionally, he co-founded the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées with conductor Philippe Herreweghe and leads the wind ensemble Harmonie des Champs-Elysées. He is also artistic director of  Il Gardellino, an ensemble he formed in 1988 and has made numerous recordings with. 

An internationally acclaimed baroque specialist, Ponseele has performed and recorded almost all oboe works by J. S. Bach, Vivaldi, W.A. Mozart, and others. He also makes copies of 18th-century oboes with his brother, Francis. 

“[Ponseele’s] interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach’s oboe solos in cantatas, Passions and concertos are important milestones in historical performance practice,” wrote Bachfest Leipzig. 

“Johann Sebastian Bach composed no fewer than 216 solo parts for the oboe. Many of them are written in a manner equivalent to the human voice,” Jung said. “It is therefore almost surprising that we have not yet awarded the Bach Medal to an oboist. I am therefore all the more delighted today to honor a man who is one with his oboes: Marcel Ponseele, one of the most important and sought-after Baroque oboists of our time.”