Book Tickets

Bach St Matthew Passion, BWV 244

Nicholas Mulroy evangelist
Ashley Riches christus
Julia Doyle soprano
Helen Charlston mezzo-soprano
Guy Cutting tenor
Michael Mofidian bass-baritone

Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford
The Boys of Radley College
Owen Rees conductor

On 11 April 1727, Bach’s day-to-day industry delivered what many consider to be his masterpiece: his ‘great passion’ after St Matthew’s Gospel. Bach didn’t generally write for posterity, but even he sensed this piece might outlive him, making special efforts to make his musical telling of Christ’s final days on earth sing with divinity and speak with humanity. The choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford and the boy choristers of Radley College join the Orchestra and handpicked soloists for this performance under Owen Rees of the composition able, in the words of Sir Nicholas Kenyon, ‘to reach beyond sectarianism and even beyond religious observance, to say something to the whole of humanity'.