On 22 June 2012, Sigiswald Kuijken and I, his wife Marleen Thiers, were stunned by the Flemish government's decision to discontinue its structural subsidies for LPB.

To let the orchestra cease to excist because of this was no option for us. During the weeks and months after this painful subsidy-decision we have been thinking intensively about ways to nevertheless keep the orchestra alive in this new situation: The orchestra indeed is too precious to us as well as to all of you - our audiences all over the whole world!

So an original rescue plan was started with an already promising and heartwarming beginning in April 2013. However, to really save the orchestra this initiative should be continued in an uninterrupted and sustained unabbreviated way. Several more initiatives will be added in the future.

Therefore we keep proposing our plan below and hope that many more people will join the group that already actively is taking part in this plan. We sincerely hope that many of you will join hands with us and help LPB to continue to survive and to make music.

A unique book...

In 2010, the Flemish publisher Lannoo had asked Sigiswald to write a book about his personal experiences and his own relationship with the person and the music of J. S. Bach. Sigiswald thought this was a fine idea and already was writing it, amidst his busy concert schedule.

However, after the sudden emergency situation La Petite Bande found herself in, the idea occurred to us to use this book as a major tool in our rescue plan for the orchestra: We decided to set up an enrollment subscription plan in combination with several modalities for donation, and to send the book to all subscriptors-donors around 16 February 2014 (Sigiswald's 70th birthday) to help save LPB from this crisis.

In the meantime Sigiswald finished the book in the beginning of October 2013. The book is dedicated to the survival of LPB and is titled 'Abide with us, Bach' (after Cantata no. 6 by J.S. Bach: 'Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden').

The success of our petitions in 2009 and 2012 convinced us that LPB is famous worldwide. This made it clear to us that the Bach book must have a worldwide readership, so it had to be translated into as many languages as possible. For the time being, we decided to have the book published in Dutch, French, English, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

An important detail is that the book will isNOT available through regular channels, not even on line - it is distributed solely by LPB. This means that every euro goes to LPB.

... and an exclusive CD !

Especially for this book, LPB made a special CD recording of Bach's Cantata no. 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben in the summer of 2013. This cantata contains the famous final chorale Jesu bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, Joy of our Desiring). The CD will accompany the Bach book and will also only be available through LPB.

Sigiswald autographs the Bach books personally for you.

From February 2020, the book which Sigiswald Kuijken wrote in 2013 “Abide with us, Bach” is in promotion : the number of exemplars is now limited! You can obtain it by offering a donation to the orchestra (which is still suffering from the loss of all official subventions since several years) :

• With a donation of 80 €, you receive the book + LPB’s CD-recording of cantata BWV 147
• With a donation of 60 € , you receive the book without the CD

1. Please, send us by mail (info@lapetitebande.be) the necessary information concerning your donation: your name, home address, the language in which you want to receive the book (English, French , German or Dutch), the number of books, the way of payment you will use.
2. For transmitting your donation, you make a bank transfer to the bank-account of “Votre Petite Bande”
   IBAN: BE30 4310 6868 0111
   BIC: KREDBEBB