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)

The St. Matthew Passion is Bach’s most theatrical work. 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 – TÉNOR
Matthieu Walendzik – BARYTON

Fiat Cantus / Opéra de Massy Young Artists Program
Chorus Director Thomas Tacquet
MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig
Chorus Director Philipp Ahmann

Opera Fuoco Orchestra

DURATION : 2H00