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Join Penny Gore at The Bridgewater Hall as she introduces a live performance of Bach's St John Passion. Nicholas Kraemer conducts the Manchester Chamber Choir & Â鶹Éç Philharmonic with soloists including Roderick Williams & Benjamin Hulett.

Written for the Good Friday Vespers service of 1724 and 300 years later, almost to the day, Nicholas Kraemer recreates this drama in Manchester - a story that is both radiant and sublime.

"Passion" – from the Latin verb ‘patior’ meaning ‘to suffer, bear, endure’. Through the eyes of John the Apostle, we relive the story of the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Christ. We hear the witness accounts of Jesus, Peter, and Pontius Pilate, as well as the judgement of the baying crowd, all within an intensely dramatic orchestral setting. Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion is an extraordinary act of worship, the first of five passion settings which he wrote and one of only two which remain. His musical storytelling is breath-taking in its invention and unusually bold.

2pm

JS Bach - St John Passion

Benjamin Hulett (Evangelist)
Roderick Williams (Christus)
Hilary Cronin (soprano)
Jess Dandy (contralto)
Laurence Kilsby (tenor)
Benjamin Bevan (bass)

Manchester Chamber Choir
Â鶹Éç Philharmonic

Nicholas Kraemer (conductor)