St John Passion

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment draws us into Jesus’ final hours in Bach’s intensely dramatic oratorio, where the eternal and mortal collide. Conductor John Butt leads the OAE and an exceptional cast of singers in Bach’s earliest surviving passion, which with its powerful crowd scenes and expressive arias, takes us to the heart of the crucifixion story. Bach skillfully manipulates time, making us not simply witnesses to the unfolding events but complicit in them. At times urgency drives the narrative forward, at others time stretches and distorts.