The Dryden Ensemble Celebrates Bach's Birthday With a Virtual Presentation of ST. JOHN'S PASSION

The Dryden Ensemble will celebrate Bach's birthday by streaming its 2020 performance of Bach's St. John Passion on beginning on Sunday, March 21 at 3 pm.

This program is a streaming of the recording of the live concert performance on Friday, March 13, 2020 as the world was shutting down. "Thank you, Dryden Ensemble for bringing this gorgeous piece of music by J.S. Bach to life at the start of the pandemic and again at what one hopes is the beginning of the end!" states John Baker, acclaimed recording engineer and founder of Affetto Records.

The concert is a rare opportunity to hear the St. John Passion in a rendition Bach might recognize. The St John Passion is a choral work-but the choir Bach had in mind was not what most people think of today. Bach performed the Passion with a choir of just eight singers, two singers per part, and those eight singers sang all the solo parts as well, including that of the narrator or Evangelist. When a choir like Bach's is used, together with a small orchestra of 18th-century instruments like those he wrote for, the effect is wonderfully direct and personal. Instead of a mass of sound one hears individual lines emerge from the texture with greater clarity, and the soloists, rather than sitting aloof from the action during the chorales and choruses, are full participants in the heart-rending and cathartic events.

The Passion will be led by Scott Metcalfe, the acclaimed music director of Blue Heron, an award-winning Renaissance vocal ensemble in Boston. The choir includes eight superb Baroque singers, six of whom have sung in past Bach concerts with the Dryden Ensemble: sopranos Teresa Wakim and Margot Rood; mezzo-sopranos Kristen Dubenion-Smith and Kim Leeds; tenors Jason McStoots (Evangelist) and Aaron Sheehan; and baritones William Sharp (Jesus) and Brian Ming Chu (Pilate). The orchestra includes current members, past members, and two newcomers.

The video of Bach's St. John Passion will be released on Sunday, March 21 at 3 pm and from March 22 it may be viewed on demand. For details, drydenensemble.org.