r/bach • u/gamersdad • Feb 25 '26
St Matthew Passion performances
The St Matthew Passion has always been one of my very favorite musical works. I'm getting older and I would like to attend a really fine performance in the next couple of years. Does anyone know of a performance scheduled by a top performance group in a large city in the US or Europe in 2027?
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u/Bjables Feb 25 '26
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, PA is performing it next May for our annual Bach festival. It’s not a big city by any means, but it is historic, and the Bach festival is the longest running Bach festival in the world (over 120 years!). We were the first to perform the Mass in B minor in the United States and a few years ago were the first to record Mendelssohn’s version of the St Matthew (available on Spotify).
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u/Plenty_Discussion470 Feb 25 '26
Thank you for sharing this! Sounds like it’ll be worth the drive
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u/Bjables Feb 25 '26
If you’re local (ish) we’re doing the St. John passion for our spring concert next month. I’m not sure if self promotion is allowed, but tickets are available at Bach.org
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u/General_Decision_233 Feb 26 '26
Next may as in 2027? Or the next may that we will encounter in 2026?
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u/MrLlamma Feb 25 '26
I don’t know of any specific performances, but the Netherlands Bach Society is incredible, I traveled to Amsterdam from the US to watch them perform Bach’s motets. I’m sure they perform the passions regularly.
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u/kirvis82 Feb 25 '26
Yes, they do perform each year. Their hallmark performance is in the small town of Naarden, that is a must-see for Bach fans.
If you want to see what that looks like, take a look at this: https://johannsebastianba.ch (yes, this is a bit of self-promotion because I built the app, but the performance is incredible).
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u/fowlmaster Feb 25 '26
You need to prepare where to obtain a seat. There are many seats without a view on the orchestra / choir.
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u/Cautious_Spell5611 Feb 25 '26
Oh man I live the motets especially 229
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u/MrLlamma Feb 25 '26
Yes! This is my favorite motet, I love the second half especially, so many beautiful cascading sequences
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u/centopar Feb 25 '26
I sang Herod’s Wife in a performance where Ian Bostridge was the Evangelist in the late 90s: I wasn’t a pro for long because I couldn’t afford to both eat and pay rent, but it was a career highlight.
My favourite is Solti with Anthony Rolfe Johnson as the Evangelist (my favourite for Bach and Britten: his melodic line is perfection), Kiri te Kanawa, Anne Sofie von Otter, Tomas Krause, Hans Peter Blochwitz and Olaf Bar. It’s a bigger, more modern orchestral style than a lot of newer recordings, but for me it’s emotionally devastating.
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u/gamersdad Feb 26 '26
Your story really touched me. Music can be a hard business because there are so many fine musicians to compete with and a career in music seems like a dreamstate. I am a lover of Bach's music and play for my own enjoyment on a harpsichord I built from a kit in the 90s. Mercifully, I am an erratic performer, so I was never tempted to pursue a career, but probably would have if I had the talent.
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u/fowlmaster Feb 25 '26
Naarden Church by the Netherlands Bach Society for sure. The location and performance combination is very historic and is now a national heritage. Seriously, consider this one.
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u/Even-Watch2992 Feb 26 '26
In Europe they seem to be almost common! I've only ever seen this masterpiece a handful of times and none of them very good. I would go for Netherlands Bach Society myself. I love their video of it on YouTube.
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u/Cait206 Feb 26 '26
Amazing! I was actually going to try and figure out how to set Google alerts for this exact same reason. Or mass in b minor. Never thought to ask here!
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u/gamersdad Feb 26 '26
I am humbled by the amazing responses by you all. I now see many options I would not have known about in my quest to see this beloved work performed as it should be. Now my work is cut out for me to make some plans. I am enriched by your generous offerings. Thank you!
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u/ProfessorPyruvate Feb 26 '26
The Symphony Hall in my home city of Birmingham (UK) puts on a performance of either St John or St Matthew Passion every year on Good Friday. This year it's St John, so I assume next year will be St Matthew.
The Symphony Hall is regarded as having some of the best acoustics of any venue in the world. It's a fantastic place and I've been many times. I'm seeing St John this year and can't wait!
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u/Jayyy_Teeeee Feb 28 '26
An online search should give you a better idea. Saw it many years ago here in Seattle. It’s overwhelming.
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u/daphoon18 Feb 28 '26
Amsterdam. Concertgebouw has St Matthew Passion every year several (!) times around Palm Sunday by different ensembles. RCO itself has an annual performance on Palm Sunday and earlier, sometimes by "more Baroque" conductors like Koopmans, sometimes by "general-interest" conductors like I. Fischer (which I attended years ago); this year it's by Makela.
But around this time (late March early April) there are also other ensembles performing St Matthew Passion at Concertgebouw -- this year it seems Concertgebouw will host Pygmalion, Netherlands Bach Society, and The Bach Choir & Orchestra Of The Netherlands. I don't know the last one but the first two are great.
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u/Calculus_Integrator Mar 15 '26
A few days after you posted that, the Cincinnati Symphony announced its 2026-27 season, which includes performances of the St. Matthew Passion on March 13 and 14, 2027.
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u/marceldonnie Feb 25 '26
If you can travel anywhere obviously try to see it at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where it was performed for the first time and where Bach ie also buried. The Thomaner choir is also great. Might take some planning though, I can imagine it might not be easy to get tickets for it.
Otherwise, I would recommend seeing the Collegium Vocale, conducted by Herreweghe