James Gilchrist and David Shipley to sing with Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society at St Matthew Passion concert on Saturday March 29
Internationally renowned tenor soloist James Gilchrist is to sing with Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society (BSCS) at a concert on Saturday March 29, writes Helen Miller.
He takes on the central role of the Evangelist in the group’s performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Baroque masterpiece the St Matthew Passion at the Bishop’s Stortford College Memorial Hall.
BSCS will also be joined by acclaimed bass soloist David Shipley, who will be singing the part of Jesus in this powerful musical setting of Christ’s last days, including the betrayal, crucifixion and burial. Four other professional soloists will complete the exciting vocal line-up.
Concert-goers can expect to be transported “Bach” to the 18th century with accompaniment by a period orchestra playing on traditional instruments, allowing the work to be heard much as it would have sounded in the composer’s day.
JS Bach (1685-1750) conducted the first performance of his St Matthew Passion on Good Friday 1727 in St Thomas Church in Leipzig. The work is an oratorio, or large-scale narrative musical work for orchestra and voices, and is a brilliant combination of the best of Baroque choral music with theatrical chorale passages involving the full choir, recitatives where the narrator (the Evangelist) tells the story in song and gorgeous solo arias
“It’s incredibly exciting that both James and David have agreed to perform with us and it is testament to the hard work that has been put in by the choir over the years to improve and finesse their own singing,” says BSCS musical director Richard Brain.
“The St Matthew Passion is a wonderful work and people in Bishop’s Stortford are going to be in for quite a treat, hearing all our fantastic soloists performing the work right here on their doorstep alongside their very own local choir.”
Gilchrist is a world-renowned interpreter of Bach’s solo music. He has made several recordings of the St Matthew Passion, including versions with the Choir of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, and the Monteverdi Choir conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
His extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world. Highlights this season include Handel’s Messiah with the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic in Krakow, Poland, and a tour of the Netherlands performing St Matthew Passion with De Nederlandse Bachvereniging.
Shipley’s concert highlights include St Matthew Passion with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the BBC Proms as well as Monteverdi’s Vespers and Handel’s Dixit Dominus at the Salzburg Festival.
He has performed at major venues at home and abroad, including Paris’ Salle Pleyel, Barcelona’s L’Auditori, the Kölner Philharmonie and London’s Cadogan Hall, the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall.
BSCS’s performance of St Matthew Passion starts at the earlier time of 7pm and will be sung in the original German with an English translation provided in the programme. Tickets, priced £22 for adults and £6 for under-18s and students, can be purchased at www.singwithbscs.org.uk.
