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, April 7, 2023, 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 Nicola Holt, Margot Button, Ken Joblin, Wally Enright, and Chris Whelan, with Ben Madden as Evangelist and soloist. 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 formed Cathedral Chorale have performed two highly successful concerts, initiating a series of Bach cantata performances, including BWV 192, Nun Danket Alle Gott, and BWV 140 Wachet Auf. On 12 November, they will present the festive BWV 137 Lobe Den Herren and Vivaldi Magnificat. Vivaldi’s concertos for the Four Seasons are also threaded through this year’s CBS concerts, directed during the appropriate season by talented local violin soloist Henry Nicholson. The next concert, a festival celebration to mark the CBS Feast of Corpus Christi on 11 June, will begin with Vivaldi’s Winter, include Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony No.3, and conclude with the Vivaldi Gloria.
Another Christchurch Choral Festival is planned for August 13, at 2 pm. The annual Haydn presentation this year on 10 September, will include Te Deum, Symphony 95, and the Nelson Mass. The CBS musical year concludes with its annual Messiah at 1.30 pm on Sunday, 10 December, and Dvorak’s Mass In D 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 April and May include advanced performers from the University School of Music, Renaissance (an Elizabethan Consort), Apollo Musicum, pianist Alice Kuo, and talented students from St Andrew’s College and Christ’s College. April 5 marks the visit of two virtuosi from London: husband and wife Natalia Lomeiko and Yuri Zhislin.
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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