Wednesday 16 April 2014 at 7:30pm
Sherborne Abbey

A twenty-first century setting of the Passion according to St John by one of today’s most popular choral composers, Bob Chilcott. Written for choir, soloists and organ, it lasts about an hour, including congregational hymns, and we will be performing it part of Holy Week worship in the Abbey.
Bob Chilcott’s St John Passion was commissioned by Wells Cathedral Choir and premiered by them on Palm Sunday last year to great acclaim. His 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. The words of Jesus and Pilate are performed by solo baritones. Within the narrative, the chorus becomes a crowd or a group of soldiers, commenting on the story, along with performing four meditations that support the story, which are settings of English poems from the 13th to the early 17th centuries.There are five Passiontide hymns for the congregation to join in with, all well-known hymn texts, but set to new, original melodies.