Get your tickets for The Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus, proudly presenting St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. The Passion musical style first appeared after the transition of the liturgy from a single person recitation into a three part narration. This division of the reading gave the performance tonal depth and variance. As early as the fifteenth century, instrumental music was added as an integral part of the narrative. Passions were originally designed to be performed in two stages - one before the sermon and one after. Through the years, many variations and improvements of the style occurred until Johann Sebastian Bach performed his St. Matthew Passion for the first time on Good Friday, 1727. Bach continued to tweak his work, taking it through several variations until, in 1736, Bach created the masterpiece most commonly performed today. Three key elements define the Passion musical style: a Biblical narrative taken from one of the first four Gospels, stanzas of related hymns, and madrigal arias. The narrative is carried by the Evangelist (John the Baptist) and can involve character depictions of Jesus Christ, Pilate, the Crowd, Judas, and others as appropriate to the telling. St Matthew Passion covers the time from the Last Supper of Christ through His arrest and execution. Part of Bach's musical brilliance is the manner in which he used the instrumental composition to punctuate certain words in the choral performance, bringing extra emphasis to those words and the emotions behind them. After Bach's death, the style decreased in popularity and his work wasn't performed again until the 18th century when Felix Mendelssohn first heard it. Mendelssohn was greatly moved and inspired by the music. He revived the score, updating some of the instruments used for the performance. His performance sparked a renewed interest in Bach's vocal works. The Passion musical style continues to be used as part of Holy Week celebrations throughout the world. St Matthew Passion was first performed at Carnegie hall in 1892 and contains 68 movements for double chorus and orchestra.

The Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage will host this event on Saturday, January 13, 2007 at 7:00 PM. This performance hall was opened in 1891 and has been the site of many concerts and events. It is the largest of the three stages in Carnegie Hall and has excellent acoustics, thanks to its design.

St Matthew Passion will be performed by Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Helmuth Rilling and will include vocal performances by James Taylor (tenor) as the Evangelist, Klaus Hager (bass) as Jesus Christ, Thomas Cooley (tenor), Michael Nagy (bass), Sibylla Rubens (soprano) and Ingeborg Danz (mezzo-soprano). Get your tickets today.