Bach’s St John Passion at Exeter

Bach’s St John Passion is the next major work performed by the Exeter Bach Society, writes Exmouth Road’s Chris Parrish. The performance will take place on Saturday 4 April at 7.30 pm at the Mint Church in Fore Street, Exeter, with the Exeter Bach Society Choir and Orchestra under its Director of Music, Budleigh-based Nicholas Marshall.

The soloists are:

Richard Rowntree – Evangelist;

Armin Zanner – Christus;

Elizabeth Drury – soprano;

Matthew Venner – counter-tenor;

Leslie Baker – tenor;

Stephen Foulkes – bass.

On April 7, 1724, the citizens of Leipzig crowded into the St Nicholas Church for Good Friday services. What they heard – in addition to a one-hour sermon (to which, you will be relieved to know, we shall not subject you!) – was a retelling of the Passion story as recounted in the book of John, set to music by their recently hired cantor, Johann Sebastian Bach.

The St John Passion is no small work, but it has often been overshadowed by the even more imposing St Matthew Passion that Bach produced a few years later.

Yet for many listeners, the drama and pacing of Bach’s first Passion setting give it a unique appeal. Robert Schumann, for example, not only admired it, but preferred it, writing to a friend: “Do you know Bach’s Passion According to St John, the so-called little one? … Don’t you think it is much bolder, more powerful, and poetical than the Passion According to St Matthew? … How full of genius, especially the choruses. And what consummate art!”

We last sang this Passion in 2005 and as before we will sing it in the original German which fits the music so much better.

Pictured in descending order are: Richard Rowntree, Armin Zanner, Elizabeth Drury, Matthew Venner, Leslie Baker and Stephen Foulkes.

Tickets: £12 unreserved (full time students half price) may be purchased from Exeter Visitor Information & Tickets (Tel: 01392 211080), in Dix’s Field, Exeter; members of the Exeter Bach Society, or by phoning Roger Churchward on 01392 468867. Also at the door before the performance. Wheelchair access.

Carmina Burana in Exeter

Exmouth Road’s Chris Parrish reports on an exciting music event to take place in February when Exeter Bach Society stages a choral workshop with director Gavin Carr to study Carl Orff’s masterpiece Camina Burana, followed the next day by a performance at Exeter's Corn Exchange with the Devon Sinfonietta conducted by Scott Stroman.

The two-day event, starting on Saturday 21 February in The Mint Church Exeter, is a further departure from the Exeter Bach Society’s usual baroque fare. Non-members are most welcome to take part.

“Following our very successful workshop led by Scott Stroman in February 2008, we were thrilled to be asked by Scott to provide the chorus for Carl Orff’s exciting and very popular work Carmina Burana, to join with the Devon Sinfonietta on Sunday 22 February this year,” explains Chris, who is the Society’s co-Chairman. “Since we had already asked Gavin Carr to lead a workshop on the previous day, the two events seemed just made for each other. Normally after a workshop there is no proper performance: you just go home! But this workshop is different. Effectively you get two for the price of one: the workshop on the Saturday with Gavin, followed on the Sunday afternoon by a final rehearsal and then a proper performance accompanied by the Devon Sinfonietta under the baton of Scott Stroman, the orchestra’s Music Director.”

“The Devon Sinfonietta is really the Devon Youth Orchestra,” adds Chris. “The opportunity to support youth music in Devon is a compelling enough reason to join in, but quite apart from that it will be a memorable musical experience helped by the fact that both Gavin Carr and Scott Stroman are very charismatic guys and Carmina Burana is a tremendous piece for a choir to tackle. At last year’s workshop we had 180 people taking part.”

Gavin Carr was born in London and studied at King's College, Cambridge, where he was a Choral Scholar. He then emigrated for five years to Australia, where he began his conducting career. He also made his name as baritone, performing throughout much of the world in opera and appearing at many festivals and with major orchestras and choruses in concert and recital. Gavin has been Music Director of The Athenaeum Singers since 2003, Assistant Conductor at the Wexford Festival and at the Cantiere d'Arte di Montepulciano as well as the Associate Principal Conductor with the The Bath Philharmonia since 2006.

Celebrated choir director Gavin Carr: “the best in the business.”

In 2006 Gavin formed a new professional choir, Chorus Angelorum, making his and their début with the English Chamber Orchestra, in the St Matthew Passion in Bath Abbey. In both 2006 and 2007 Chorus Angelorum toured Italy singing Messiaen's Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine with Jan Latham-Koenig and the orchestra of the Teatro Regio at the Turin opera house and in August 2007, for performances of Carmina Burana in Naples, Montepulciano, Bologna and Llubljana. He made another Italian tour in August 2008 under the auspices of the Emilia Romagna Festival in Bologna. He is now also the conductor of Bath Minerva Choir and recently took up the post of Director of the Bristol Bach Choir.

Gavin was described recently as "the best in the business" of choir trainers. “You will instantly warm to him,” say the Exeter event’s organisers.

Scott Stroman is renowned for his keen ear, rhythmic strength, attention to detail, broad knowledge and wide experience. His musical vocabulary genuinely embraces classical, jazz, and world music. His musical strength and depth also allow him to bring his insight and inspiration to the standard orchestral and choral repertoire.

Conductor Scott Stroman, “an inspiring and uniquely broad musician, equally at home in classical, jazz, and world music.” Photo credit: Juan-Carlos Hernandez

He works regularly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where he directs their ground-breaking Renga Ensemble. As a jazz-trombonist and singer, Scott has performed with many of the great players.

Since 1983 he has been a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and since 1984 head of their jazz programme, renowned as one of the best in Europe. His work with youth includes directing the Devon Sinfonietta.

“If you met Scott at the workshop last year you will know what a charismatic leader he is. If you did not, this is your opportunity to find out,” says Chris Parrish.

Further information can be found at http://www.exeterbachsociety.org.uk/workshop.htm