Jubilate Choir and ensemble, under the direction of Amy Ryan, will perform Carl Heinrich Graun’s Passion Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus) on Saturday 24th March at 8 pm in the Church of the Three Patrons Rathgar. This Passion, which was extremely popular in the 18th Century, is once again gaining considerable international interest and attention, as is the upcoming Irish premiere. Tickets for the performance (€20) will be available at the door on the night, and from the website www.jubilate.ie.

Amy Ryan, conductor of Jubilate, says “I first came across Der Tod Jesu last August while a Conducting Fellow at the Yale Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and was instantly enchanted. I cannot wait to bring it to an Irish audience, and hope it enchants them as it has done both myself and the choir!”

The Jubilate Choir is very excited at the prospect of singing this work. The choir is highly experienced, having performed major works including Bach’s St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, and feels that Graun’s Passion compares very favourably with those better-known works. Jubilate encourages all to come to hear for themselves and appreciate the beauty of the music. The soloists for the performance are Rachel Talbot soprano, Victoria Massey, mezzo-soprano, Jacek Wisklocki, tenor, and Eoghan Desmond, bass.

Amy Ryan adds “Der Tod Jesu is an exquisite gem of the eighteenth-century repertoire. Its popularity during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was such that it eclipsed Graun’s very significant output in terms of opera, earning him renown with the German public. Following its premiere in 1755, the work enjoyed close to a century of annual Good-Friday performances at the Berlin court before eventually declining in popularity, something which has been variously attributed to reasons of language and theology. It is extremely exciting for Jubilate to have the opportunity to bring this work to the Irish public for the first time, and I hope that it will inspire more Irish performances of this important and beautiful work in years to come!”