Resurgam

The Irish Baroque Orchestra (IBO) with the choir Resurgam will tour Ireland with performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion in April. Conducted by Mark Duley with Peter Davoren as the Evangelist and Raitis  Grigalis as Jesus, the Passion will reach the Cathedral of Ss Patrick and Felim, Cavan (Tuesday, 3 April at 6.30pm);  St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny (Wednesday, 4 April at 6.30pm) and the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas, Galway (Friday, 6 April at 5pm). 

The early start times reflect the work’s length — the St Matthew Passion, thought to be first performed in Leipzig in 1727, is the largest of Bach’s two surviving passions and usually takes about three hours to perform. Celebrated arias and chorales from the passion include ‘Erbarme dich, mein Gott, um meiner Zähren Willen!’ and ‘Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder’.

Mark Duley said that the St Matthew Passion ‘speaks to everyone through the language of music and appeals to people of all religions and none’. Audiences respond to the Passion’s drama, according to Duley. ‘It’s almost like Christ’s Passion, the greatest spectacle of all time, is being played out in front of you. People also get caught up in the deeper message – as a spiritual experience, it’s never been bettered or surpassed. Resurgam will be performing with a similar sized choir to that of Bach’s and with the Irish Baroque Orchestra playing instruments modelled on those of Bach’s time. We use two sets of soloists from within the two choirs, just as Bach would have done in his day, as we try to get as close as possible to the very heart of this music.’

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