A Journey: Christ’s Passion tale in Music by Bach, March 7 at Walt Disney Concert Hall
The holiest season of the Christian calendar is the Easter season. The celebration of the re-telling of the biblical passion story is most movingly told in Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Composed in 1727 and set to chapters 26 and 27 from the Book of Matthew, Bach’s deeply emotional work, entitled simply, “St. Matthew Passion” incorporates choruses and arias to recount the story of the capture and crucifixion of Christ interpreted by poetic interjections of the chorus. Part One includes the dramatic events leading to the crucifixion, including the last supper and the betrayal and arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gesthsemane. Part two brings the biblical story to its inevitable conclusion, the darkness that prevails in the story just prior to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection which follows only a few days later.
This emotional story, the basis of the Christian faith, will be presented by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, directed by Grant Gershon, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, directed by Martin Haselboch and the Pasadena-based Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, prepared by the staff under the direction of Anne Tomlinson—at the Walt Disney Concert Hall at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, March 7.
The aggregation of talent will include soloists Pablo Cora, tenor, as The Evangelist, Steve Pence as Jesus. Others include Kristen Toedtman, Adriana Manfredi, Leslie Inman, altos; Tamara Bevard, Deborah Mayhan, Sopranos; Jon Lee Keenan, tenor; and Abdiel Gonzales, baritone.
It is the first time that any group has performed the Bach work, considered one of Western civilization’s greatest pieces of music, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale’s music director, Grant Gershon, in announcing this presentation, said, “It is an honor to be the first person to conduct Bach’s famed work in Disney Concert Hall, with its stellar acoustics and intimate setting.”
Ticket prices range from $19 to $124. Student rush ticket seats available at the box office two hours before the performance. For information, please call (213) 972-7282.
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