Toronto Bach Festival - St. John Passion

Among the great works composed by Bach, his setting of the passion drama in St. John’s account stands out as one of his choral masterpieces. Bach laboured over this monumental setting throughout his tenure in Leipzig, and experts now trace no fewer than four versions of the work. Our performance will present the second of these, with its striking differences from the version most often heard in concert. This version includes three new arias, as well as new versions of the opening and closing movements that Bach composed anew or extracted from previously composed works and placed here.We are pleased to welcome back award-winning performer and noted Bach scholar John Butt as our special guest director for the St. John Passion.

Featuring

Ellen McAteer and Sinéad White, sopranos

Daniel Taylor and Nicholas Burns, altos

Charles Daniels and Shane Hanson, tenors

Jonathan Woody and Jesse Blumberg, basses