Bach St John Passion
373 Manchester Street, Christchurch
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J.S. Bach’s St John Passion will be performed at 8 pm on Good Friday, March 29, 2024, in the Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Manchester Street. Written for Good Friday, 1724, the Passion is a compact and intensely dramatic setting of St John’s description of Christ’s last hours.
Soloists will be Sue Densem, Louisa Pilkington, Ken Joblin, Wally Enright, and Chris Whelan, with Adrian Lowe as Evangelist. The orchestra will be led by Natalia M. Lomeiko, Continuo will be provided by Janet Cubey, cello, with Grant Bartley, organ, and the performance will be directed by Don Whelan. The Easter Sunday morning 11 a.m. Solemn Mass will include Handel’s Worthy Is The Lamb & Amen chorus, the Byrd motet Haec Dies, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass.
This year, the CBS Orchestra and a newly established Cathedral Chorale continue their series of Bach cantata performances, including BWV 4, Christ lag in Todes Banden, and BWV 21 Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis. On June 9 they will perform his magnificent Mass in B Minor and invite experienced singers to join them for preparatory rehearsals. Marking the bi-centennial year of Anton Bruckner, his motets are threaded through 2024, culminating on November 3 with his evocative Mass in E Minor, written to herald the building of a new Linz Cathedral.
Another Christchurch Choral Festival is planned for August 11, at 2 pm. The annual Haydn presentation this year on 15 September, will include Insanae et Vanae, Symphony 96, and the Theresienmesse. The CBS musical year concludes with its annual Messiah at 1.30 pm on Sunday, 1 December, and Bruckner’s Mass In D Minor at the Christmas Midnight Mass.
The weekly Wednesday at One Pro-Cathedral concert series attracts a large and supportive audience, and presents a variety of soloists, ensembles and orchestras. Performers through March, April and May include advanced performers from the University School of Music, Renaissance (an Elizabethan Consort), soprano Alexandra Watson, Apollo Musicum, organists Hans Hielscher, Jeremy Woodside, Nicholas Sutcliffe and Janet Gibbs, pianists Michael Lawrence and Veronica van der Knaap, and talented students from St Andrew’s College and Christ’s College.
The cathedral musicians maintain an extensive repertoire of masses and motets, sung each Sunday at the 11 a.m. Solemn Choral Mass. New members are welcome to the 7.30 pm Wednesday evening rehearsal at the CBS Music Centre. Sight reading ability is expected. A number of vacancies exist for choral leaders within the group, who enjoy unique opportunities to perform solo roles in significant Mass and motet settings with the orchestra and choir. Those interested are invited to contact the CBS Musical Director, Don Whelan, phone 358-5873.
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