When: March 8, 2024 8:00 pm
Where: Girton College
BACH ST JOHN PASSION: AN IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE at GIRTON COLLEGE | CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY CHAMBER CHOIR and COLLEGIUM MUSICUM with ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT experience scheme members
Friday 8 March at 8pm
Great Hall, Girton College, Cambridge
BACH St John Passion, BWV 245
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY CHAMBER CHOIR
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY COLLEGIUM MUSICUM
Members of the ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT experience scheme
MARGARET FAULTLESS violin/director
NICHOLAS MULROY tenor/director
There will be a pre-concert talk at 18.45 with Professor Bettina Varwig. See more information.
2024 marks the 300th anniversary of the first performance of Bach’s towering masterpiece, the St John Passion, which debuted on Good Friday in 1724 in Leipzig. Still revered today, it remains among the composer’s most cherished works.
Attending a performance of the St John Passion as a churchgoer in eighteenth-century Leipzig would have been an extraordinarily powerful experience: the work intertwines the agony of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples’ confusion, and the crowd’s tumultuous emotions, and it invites the congregation to be part of the drama by singing traditional German hymns.
In this immersive performance we will reshape elements of traditional classical concert ritual to help you experience anew the emotional intensity of Bach’s music. Audience members will be seated in the round with musicians moving freely around them, and those who wish to do so will be invited to join in the singing of some of the chorales like their eighteenth-century forebears.
Renowned tenor Nicholas Mulroy, acclaimed for his portrayal of the role of Evangelist, leads a stellar ensemble of talented student singers from the Cambridge University Chamber Choir. Professor Margaret Faultless, a distinguished violinist, leads a collaboration between members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment experience scheme and the Cambridge University Collegium Musicum.
Can’t make it to this concert? There is another opportunity to see Bach’s masterpiece performed in a traditional concert setting at St John’s College on Thursday 7 March 2024!
Tickets at Girton College: Seating is unreserved.
£25 | Concessions: £22.50 | Cambridge University Students: £5
Purchase tickets online
Box Office Phone 01799 588 545 Monday to Friday, 10am – 5.30pm
Click to view our 2024 concession and student ticket policy.
Photo credit: Raphaelle Photography
