This concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Listen now for a limited time only.

Passion – from the Latin verb ‘patior’ meaning ‘to suffer, bear, endure’. Through the eyes of St. John the Apostle, we relive the story of the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Christ. We hear the witness accounts of Jesus, Peter, and Pontius Pilate, as well as the judgement of the baying crowd, all within an intensely dramatic orchestral setting. Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion is an extraordinary act of worship, the first of five passion settings which he wrote and one of only two which remain. His musical storytelling is breath-taking in its invention and unusually bold. Written for the Good Friday Vespers service of 1724 and 300 years later, almost to the day, Nicholas Kraemer recreates this drama at The Bridgewater Hall. A story that is radiant and sublime.