SAINT MATTHEW PASSION – BACH
MARCH 26th, 2027 - 8:00 PM
OPÉRA DE MASSY
JUNE 11th, 2027 - 8:00 PM
GEWANDHAUS, BACHFEST, LEIPZIG
OCTOBER 7th, 2027 - 8:00 PM
GRAND MANÈGE, NAMUR
J. S. BACH (1736)
FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY (1841 Version)
With its double chorus and two orchestras, this musical narration of the biblical Passion story is at times operatic in its intensity, imagery, and expressiveness. When Felix Mendelssohn reimagined the work, he romanticized the piece in order to entice the public with a taut and dramatic rendition of a work that had not been heard for 100 years. An experienced and successful composer and conductor, Mendelssohn also was a clever dramaturg, who knew the taste and needs of his audience. Approaching Bach from Mendelssohn’s point of view, Opera Fuoco uses historic instruments from the romantic period and strives to evoke the youth, vigor and dramatic nature of Mendelssohn’s mid- 19th century understanding of Bach’s monumental oeuvre. This interpretation allows today’s public to enter the heart of the 19th–century Bach revival, so significant for the history of music performance, and to gain a new perspective on the St. Matthew Passion on the occasion of its 300th anniversary.
ARTISTS
David Stern - MUSICAL DIRECTION
Current & former soloists from the Opera Fuoco Young Artists Program
Bastien Rimondi - EVANGELIST Adrien Fournaison - JESUS Thaïs Raï-Westphal – SOPRANO Marion Vergez-Pascal – ALTO Guy Elliott – TENOR Matthieu Walendzik – BARITONE
Fiat Cantus / Opéra de Massy Young Artists Program
Chorus Director Thomas Tacquet
MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig
Chorus Director Philipp Ahmann
Choeur de Namur
Opera Fuoco Orchestra
DURATION : 2H00