Bach's St. John Passion from St. Thomas Church

In preparation of the work's 300th anniversary in 2024, Thomanerchor and Gewandhausorchester perform a version that resembles that of its premiere.

The St John Passion is a setting of the Passion story as related in St John’s Gospel. It was first performed on Good Friday, 7 April 1724 in Leipzig. Bach revised the work in 1725 and 1732, but it is heard most frequently today in the final version he completed in 1749.

The German musicologist Christoph Wolff observes that, “Bach experimented with the St John Passion as he did with no other large-scale composition,” and concludes that, “as the work accompanied him right from his first year as Cantor of St Thomas’s to the penultimate year of his life, for that reason alone, how close it must have been to his heart”.

Exactly one year before the great anniversary, the new Thomaskantor in Leipzig and 18th successor to Johann Sebastian Bach, the Swiss conductor Andreas Reize, will perform the masterpiece together with the Gewandhausorchester, the Thomanerchor and a top-class cast of singers.

J. S. Bach
St John Passion, BWV 245

Thomanerchor Leipzig
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Thomaskantor Andreas Reize

Anna Prohaska , soprano
Andreas Scholl, alto
Julian Prégardien, tenor (Evangelist)
Jakob Pilgram, tenor (arias)
Tomáš Král, bass (vox christi)
Tobias Berndt, bass (arias)

A 4K HDR production of Accentus Music in co-production with MDR/Arte.
Directed by Ute Feudel
Produced by Paul Smaczny

The concert will be streamed live on Arte Concert on Friday, 7 April 2023, 19h00.

Production Company Accentus Music GmbH
Co-Production Company MDR/Arte
TV Director Ute Feudel
Choir Thomanerchor Leipzig
Orchestra / Band Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Conductor Thomaskantor Andreas Reize
Soloist Anna Prohaska
Soloist Andreas Scholl
Soloist Julian Prégardien
Soloist Jakob Pilgram
Soloist Tomáš Král
Soloist Tobias Berndt
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach
English title of music work St John Passion, BWV 245