J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion

Sunday, February 21, 5pm

Early Music: Opera & Oratorio
J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists
Masaaki Suzuki, conductor

Cast to include:
Nick Pritchard, tenor (Evangelist) 
Florian Störtz, bass (Jesus) 

Program:
Bach/St. Matthew Passion

Period-music ensembles the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir—the gold standard in Baroque performance for decades—join forces with conductor Masaaki Suzuki for Bach’s crowning masterpiece during its 300th anniversary year. The powerfully dramatic St. Matthew Passion sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the Bible’s Gospel of Matthew to music with interspersed chorales and arias, and is scored for massive forces: a double choir, double orchestra, and vocal soloists. Bach’s transcendent oratorio conveys the story’s intense human drama and moral dilemma, as recounted here by featured soloists Nick Pritchard as the Evangelist and Florian Störtz as Jesus.