Dissolve, my heart   BACH St. John Passion, BWV 245

Bach’s surviving Passions are among the highlights of Western church music. The St John Passion possesses a remarkable immediacy and dramatic power. With its stirring opening chorus, it takes us to the Garden of Gethsemane and the arrest of Jesus, culminating in his entombment. In between, a highly intense narrative of suffering unfolds.

Over the past four years, we have focused on the diversity of Baroque Passion music beyond the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. With A Nocte Temporis, directed by the singer Reinoud Van Mechelen, we now welcome a young ensemble that has engaged intensively with the St John Passion. The configuration is special in that Van Mechelen performs the twin roles of conductor and Evangelist. He is already familiar to our audience as the Evangelist in Bach’s Passions conducted by Philippe Herreweghe: in 2022 he appeared in the St Matthew Passion, and in 2023 in the St John Passion.

Tomáš Král – Jesus
Wolf Matthias Friedrich – Pilatus
Lore Binon – Soprano
Carlos Mena – Countertenor
Sean Clayton – Tenor

a nocte temporis
Chœur de Chambre de Namur
Dir: Reinoud Van Mechelen – Evangelist