Cantare Super Orchestram performs Baroque instrument-infused selections from Bach's Passions, April 5

Also on the program at Holy Rosary Cathedral is Benevoli’s Missa Tu Es Petrus

By emily lyth

Cantare Super Orchestram and Belle Voci.

Cantare Super Orchestram presents selections from Bach’s Passions at Holy Rosary Cathedral on April 5 at 2 pm

WITH EASTER RIGHT around the corner, it’s only fitting that Bach’s St John Passion and St Matthew Passion make a reappearance on the local music scene.

Both of these 18th-century works, which tell the Biblical story of Jesus’s crucifixion through a combination of scripture, poetry, and hymns, have historically been performed on Good Friday. In advance of the occasion, Cantare Super Orchestram is travelling to Vancouver from its home base at the Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra to present the Passions at Holy Rosary Cathedral downtown on April 5.

The St John Passion, which Bach wrote first, is a succinct work full of drama and glory, while the St Matthew Passion—bleaker in tone—takes a more extensive and emotional dive into themes of grief and guilt. Both are among Bach’s most famous pieces of sacred music.

Another work will accompany the Passions on the program: 17th-century Italian composer Benevoli’s Missa Tu Es Petrus, a 16-voice Mass that was based on Palestrina’s motet of the same name. Conductor Paula DeWit and concertmaster Chloe Meyers will be at the helm of the performance, with sopranos Sonja Strimbei and Sylwia Karwowska, alto Dinah Ayre, bass Richard Williams, and countertenor Erik Kallo featured as soloists.

Audiences will also get a unique taste of Baroque instrumentation with this presentation, namely with traverso (Baroque flute) players Mikyla Jensen and Emily Richardson, Baroque bassoonist Allan Thorpe, and organist Connor Page. There will be several violinists and violists on deck, too, along with cellist Shin-Jung Nam and bassist Michael Vaughan.

For folks located closer to the Fraser Valley, Cantare Super Orchestram will bring the concert to St. Dunstan’s Anglican Church in Aldergrove on April 4.  

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