Four years from now will mark the tricentenary of the year 1727, when Bach composed the Matthew Passion to the libretto Christian Friedrich Henrici – known by the pen name Picander – wrote based on the Gospel of Matthew. The work was presumably first performed on Good Friday of that year, which fell on 11 April, at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Harpsichordist, organist and conductor Francesco Corti is a member of numerous world-famous early music ensembles and regularly conducts the top historically informed orchestras, including Il Pomo d'Oro, where he has served as first guest conductor since 2018. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra was founded in 1987 in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. Over time, the ensemble became one of the most prestigious representatives of period performance practice, playing under the batons of guest conductors like Ivor Bolton, René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Pablo Heras-Casado and Trevor Pinnock. The choir for this performance of the St Matthew Passion, the Zürcher Sing-Akademie (successor of the Schweizer Kammerchor), is a highly cultured 32-member Swiss choir with a broad repertoire. The cast of soloists consists of world-class singers. Deserving special note are the German tenor Maximilian Schmitt, who will portray the voice of the evangelist, and the French countertenor of unparalleled virtuosity and extraordinary evocativeness Philippe Jaroussky.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest