St John Passion

SATB and soloists (soprano, tenor, and two baritones), with organ or small ensemble Chilcott's mighty setting of words from the Gospel of St John is a dramatic yet optimistic retelling of the Passiontide story. As with Bach's great Passion settings, the role of the Evangelist is taken by the tenor soloist, who provides a melodious narrative throughout the work, in arioso style. The words of Jesus and Pilate are performed by solo baritones. Within the narrative, the SATB chorus becomes a crowd or a group of soldiers, commenting on the story in short outbursts, although the larger role of the choir is to perform the four meditations and five hymns that support the story. For the meditations-two of which include soprano solos-Chilcott has selected English poems from the 13th to the early 17th centuries.The five well-known hymn texts are set to new, original melodies, which are also intended for performance by an audience or congregation.

PART 1; Introduction: Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle (Chorus); The Garden (Evangelist, Jesus, Chorus); Hymn: It is a thing most wonderful (Chorus); Peter's denial (Evangelist, Woman, Peter, Jesus, Officer, Servant, Chorus); Meditation: Miserere, my maker (Chorus); Hymn: Drop, drop slow tears (Chorus); PART 2; The Judgement Hall (I) (Evangelist, Pilate, Jesus, Chorus); Hymn: Jesu, grant me this, I pray (Chorus); Meditation: Christ, my Beloved (Soprano solo, Chorus); The Judgement Hall (II) (Evangelist, Pilate, Jesus, Chorus); Meditation: Away vain world (Chorus); PART 3; Jesus is crucified (Evangelist, Pilate, Chorus); Hymn: There is a green hill far away (Chorus); The Crucifixion (Evangelist, Jesus, Chorus); Meditation: Jesus, my leman (Soprano solo, Chorus); Jesus dies on the Cross (Evangelist, Jesus); Hymn: When I survey the wondrous Cross (Chorus)

Bob Chilcott has become one of the world's most widely performed composers and arrangers of choral music. His compositional output reflects his wide taste in music styles and his commitment to writing music that is both singable and communicative. He has been involved in choral music most of his life he was a chorister and then a choral scholar in the choir of King's College, Cambridge, and was a member of the British vocal group The King's Singers for whom he made a number of popular arrangements of well-known songs from all genres. As well as being a full-time composer he is also a highly acclaimed choral conductor. He has been privileged to conduct many choirs all over the world. He is Principal Guest Conductor of The BBC Singers and in 2019 he was appointed Principal Conductor of Birmingham University Singers. His music has been widely recorded by many choirs and groups including The King's Singers, Tenebrae, and The BBC Singers.