Music of the Baroque signals the coming of Holy Week with Johann Sebastian Bach’s “The St. Matthew Passion,” conducted by Music of the Baroque Music Director Dame Jane Glover. The work speaks as urgently of compassion and hope today as it did 300 years ago—and when Music of the Baroque first performed it in 1974. The sponsor for these performances is The Negaunee Foundation.
“It is simply thrilling to be preparing once more (after 15 years!) for our upcoming performances of Bach’s ‘St. Matthew Passion,’” says Glover. “This apogee of Baroque music is a daunting challenge to performers—technically, emotionally, and spiritually—and for audience members, who experience simultaneously the work’s great narrative and the strong emotions it engenders. It is our duty as performers to deliver the story with drama and pathos, and the range of feelings with clarity, integrity, and heart. There is no greater responsibility, or greater reward, than performing this mighty masterpiece, on Palm Sunday and in Holy Week. I cannot wait.”
The musical settings of “The St. Matthew Passion” tell the story of the final period in the life of Jesus. The first part concerns Jesus Christ’s betrayal, the Last Supper, and his prayers and arrest in Gethsemane. The second part presents the rest of the biblical story, including the Crucifixion, death, and burial of Christ. Bach wrote his “St. Matthew Passion” to tell the Passion story through music at Good Friday Vesper services, the high point of the liturgical year. Every year for Good Friday Vespers, a Passion was performed in one of Leipzig’s two principal (Lutheran) churches, St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. "The St. Matthew Passion" was created for this occasion.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of classical sacred music and one of the greatest creative achievements of all time, Bach composed his masterpiece for two choruses, two orchestras, children’s chorus, and soloists. In keeping with the vision of the composer, Glover leads two orchestras, two choruses, a children’s chorus, (Anima - Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus) and a roster of world-renowned soloists.
Guest vocalists include Gwilym Bowen, “Evangelist” (tenor); Brandon Cedel, "Christus" (baritone); Yulia Van Doren (soprano); Krisztina Szabó (mezzo-soprano); Paul Appleby (tenor), and Roderick Williams (baritone).
Music of the Baroque presents Bach’s “The St. Matthew Passion”
• 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 2 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd. (www.northshorecenter.org)
• 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 3 at the Harris Theater | Millennium Park, 205 E. Randolph (www.harristheaterchicago.org)
Tickets: $25-$100. Visit www.baroque.org or call 312.551.1414
Students Go For Free at the Harris Theater: Students are able to attend any of Music of the Baroque’s seven performances at the Harris Theater during the 2022-2023 season free of charge. Students can reserve up to two complimentary tickets per valid student ID by visiting www.baroque.org or calling 312.551.1414. Student tickets will also be available at the Harris Theater box office starting two hours prior to the performance.
Dame Jane Glover conducting Music of the Baroque. Photo by Elliot Mandel
About Music of the Baroque
Long recognized as one of the region’s top classical groups, Music of the Baroque’s professional chorus and orchestra is one of the leading ensembles in the country devoted to the performance of eighteenth-century works. The 2022-2023 season marks the 20th anniversaries of Music Director Dame Jane Glover and Principal Guest Conductor Nicholas Kraemer. Andrew Megill was named Chorus Director in April 2022.
Over the past four decades, Music of the Baroque has presented premiere performances of many early masterpieces, including Monteverdi’s operas and 1610 Vespers, Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Day of Judgment,” Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” and numerous Handel operas and oratorios. The ensemble has drawn particular praise throughout its history for its performances of the major choral and orchestral works of J. S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn.
Opera News calls Music of the Baroque “one of Chicago’s musical glories” and the Chicago Sun-Times writes, “Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra may be the big guys on the local classical music scene, but in terms of sheer quality of performance…Music of the Baroque inhabits the same stratosphere.”
Music of the Baroque draws audiences from across the Chicago metropolitan area, performing regularly at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago and the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, as well as at intimate Chicago and suburban churches.
Listeners across the country enjoy Music of the Baroque’s work through radio broadcasts and recordings on 98.7WFMT Radio.
Music of the Baroque's available recordings include "Messiah—Live in Chicago" recorded live in November 2021; "Bach's Mass in B Minor" recorded live during the 2019-2020 season; and "On This Night," recorded live during the ensemble's 2017 and 2014 holiday concerts and conducted by William Jon Gray.
Through its "Strong Voices" program, Music of the Baroque conducts arts education to support and enhance music education programs at Chicago public high schools.
For more information about Music of the Baroque, visit www.baroque.org.
Guest Artist Bios
Acclaimed for the clarity and beauty of his singing and dynamic stage presence, British tenor Gwilym Bowen performs internationally with orchestras and ensembles of the highest caliber. His most recent engagements include James MacMillan’s “All the Hills and Vales Along” at the Edinburgh Festival; Dussek’s “Messe Solemnelle” with the Academy of Ancient Music; a Purcell program, "Gabriel – An Entertainment with Trumpet" with The English Concert; Alison Balsom and Harry Bicket at the Barbican; “Messiah” with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stephen Layton; and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Oslo Philharmonic under François Leleux.
Bowen's operatic highlights include Valletto in “L’incoronazione di Poppea” for Angers-Nantes Opéra; Eurimaco/Giove in “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria” at The Grange Festival; Damon in “Acis and Galatea” with Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican; Sylph in Rameau's “Zaïs” with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Queen Elizabeth Hall; and Father in Hasse’s “Piramo e Tisbe” with The Mozartists. Opera roles have also included Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s “Progress” and Pelléas in “Pelléas et Mélisande.”
In concert, Gwilym Bown has sung The Evangelist in the “St. John Passion" with John Butt and BBC National Orchestra of Wales and “The St. Matthew Passion” for De Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Auckland Philharmonia. Bowen's recordings include the “St. John Passion” arias with De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, a world premiere Welsh translation of the Mass in B Minor with the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge and OAE for Hyperion, Petrus in Handel’s “Brockes Passion” with AAM and Concerto Copenhagen, and the world premiere recording of Dussek’s “Messe solemnelle.”
American Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel is a recent graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and was an ensemble member of Oper Frankfurt from 2016-2019. The April 2023 performances of "The St. Matthew Passion" mark his debut with Music of the Baroque.
Highlights of Brandon Cedel's 2022-2023 season include the title role in a new production of Handel’s “Hercules” at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the title role in “Le nozze di Figaro” for the Glyndebourne Festival, and the role of Dan Brown in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ new opera “The Hours” with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In future seasons, he makes his debut with the Komische Oper Berlin and returns to the Glyndebourne Festival and the Metropolitan Opera.
Other recent engagements have included “Don Giovanni” with the Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago; “Don Giovanni” and “Rinaldo” with the Glyndebourne Festival; The “Rape of Lucretia” with the Boston Lyric Opera; the title role in “Le nozze di Figaro” with Opera Philadelphia and the Stuttgart Staatsoper; and “La bohème” and “Il barbiere di Siviglia” for the Canadian Opera Company.
A dedicated interpreter of repertoire off the beaten path, Russian-American soprano Yulia Van Doren has thoughtfully cultivated a unique career as one of the foremost concert singers of her generation. Particularly recognized for her work in Baroque repertoire, Van Doren has been presented as a guest artist by a majority of the premiere North American orchestras and festivals, has the distinction of being the only singer awarded top prizes in all US Bach vocal competitions, and is featured on two Grammy-nominated opera recordings with the Boston Early Music Festival. She last appeared with Music of the Baroque in April 2022.
Career highlights include creating the lead female role in the world premiere of Shostakovich’s “Orango” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, directed by Peter Sellars and released on Deutsche Grammophon; two Grammy-nominated opera recordings with the Boston Early Music Festival; the modern revival of Monsigny’s opera “Le Roi et le fermier” at Opéra Royal de Versailles, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center (recorded for Naxos); a tour of Handel’s “Orlando” with Philharmonia Baroque to the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and Tanglewood festivals; Scarlatti’s "Tigrane" at Opéra de Nice; nationally televised performances at the Cartagena International Music Festival with soprano Dawn Upshaw; and creating a leading role in the world premiere staging of Lera Auerbach’s “The Blind” at the Lincoln Center Festival.
Other recent debuts and engagements include performances with the San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Folger Consort, and two trips to the Netherlands for performances with Radio Kamer Filharmonie.
Hungarian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó is highly sought after in both North America and Europe as an artist of supreme musicianship and stagecraft and has become known for her promotion and performance of contemporary Canadian works. She last appeared with Music of the Baroque in September 2019.
Szabó is a frequent performer of recital, concert, and chamber repertoire. Collaborators include the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Vancouver Bach Choir, the San Antonio Symphony, the Talisker Players in Toronto, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Elora Festival Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Oregon Symphony (Mozart Requiem). She also appeared as soloist with Plural Ensemble in Madrid, Spain, under the baton of renowned composer-conductor, Peter Eötvös.
In recital, Szabó has appeared with numerous organizations including Ravinia Festival, Aldeburgh Connection, Music Toronto, Symphony Nova Scotia, Orchestra London, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Esprit Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Canadian Art Song Project, Waterside Music Festival, Stratford Summer Music Festival and Indian River Festival. Szabó’s films and recordings include Zerlina in the Rhombus Media film “Don Giovanni: Leporello's Revenge,” as well as the accompanying soundtrack released by CBC Records. She can be heard as the voice of Leanne in the opera movie “Burnt Toast.” Additional recordings include a four-part series of art songs with the Canadian Ukrainian Opera Association and Four Songs of Tagore by Ippolitov-Ivanov with the Talisker Players.
Admired for his interpretive depth, vocal strength, and range of expressivity, tenor Paul Appleby is one of the most sought-after voices of his generation. Opera News claims, “[Paul’s] tenor is limpid and focused, but with a range of color unusual in an instrument so essentially lyric… His singing is scrupulous and musical; the voice moves fluidly and accurately.”
Highlights of the recent past include Metropolitan Opera productions of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" led by Sir Antonio Pappano and "Rodelinda" conducted by Harry Bicket, and concert performances of "Die Zauberflöte" and Mozart’s seldom heard "Laut verkunde unsre" with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Handel’s "Samson" with the Dunedin Consort at the Edinburgh International Festival; Elgar’s "The Dream of Gerontius" with the Bamberger Symphoniker; Berlioz’s "Béatrice et Bénédict" at the Palais Garnier with the orchestra and chorus of the Opéra de Paris under the direction of Philippe Jordan; and on numerous occasions in North America and Europe with his frequent musical partner Manfred Honeck. Respected as a consummate recital artist, Paul Appleby has given solo appearances at Wigmore Hall with Malcolm Martineau, has toured North America extensively with pianists Natalia Katyukova and Ken Noda, and was hosted by The Schubert Club for a range of recitals with pianist Wu Han including the tenor’s first performance of Winterreise.
Baritone Roderick Williams’s wide opera, concert, and recital repertoire spans from the Baroque to the contemporary. He enjoys relationships with all the major UK opera houses and has sung world premieres of operas by David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michel van der Aa, Robert Saxton, and Alexander Knaifel, as well as roles including Papageno in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Don Alfonso in Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” and the title roles in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” and Britten’s “Billy Budd.” He last appeared with Music of the Baroque in May 2017.
Williams performs regularly with leading conductors and orchestras throughout the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia, and his many festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, and Melbourne. As a composer, he has had works premiered at London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, and Purcell Room, and on UK national radio. In December 2016 he won the prize for Best Choral Composition at the British Composer Awards. Roderick Williams was awarded an OBE in June 2017 and received Olivier Award nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for his performances in the title role of Monteverdi’s “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria" at The Royal Opera, Covent Garden (2018) and in English National Opera’s production of Britten’s "War Requiem" (2019).
Anima– Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus is currently celebrating its 58th season as one of the leading children and youth choral organizations in North America. The Chorus is dedicated to transforming young lives through excellence in music education and choral singing. Its six ensembles serve children from over 35 different Chicagoland communities, with outreach programs reaching 1000 additional children annually. International tours have taken the Chorus to six continents.
Performing frequently with Chicago’s major musical organizations, Anima's singers have performed under many of the world’s most eminent conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bernard Haitink, Semyon Bychkov, John Nelson, Jane Glover, Christoph Eschenbach, Claudio Abbado, and Georg Solti. Also committed to new music, Anima - Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus has commissioned over 80 new works for young voices in its history. Anima - Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus was the first children’s chorus in America to be recognized and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts for the professionalism of its work and captured four Grammy awards for its performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti.
Recent national awards include the ASCAP Adventurous Programming award from Chorus America, the Tribute Award from Chicago A Cappella, the Non-Profit of the Year Award from the Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce, the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America and the American Composers Forum, and the once-in-an-organizational lifetime Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence from Chorus America.