Preview: St Matthew Passion at Chichester Cathedral with the English Arts Chorale

29 March, Chichester Cathedral

Come with us to Chichester and be part of a “movement”!

All over the country, ambitious choirs are preparing to perform the St Matthew Passion. You can tell if you glance occasionally at social media. The choirs with a few tech-savvy singers are proudly announcing their forthcoming performance with engaging, attractive media posts – including ours.

It’s not far short of being a “movement.” Perhaps one day someone will make a comprehensive list of all of them, and we will be able to see how, at this time every year, this mighty masterpiece colours the consciousness of a music-loving community nationwide.

Lots of the performances are in our cathedrals or other great churches, and it always seems to me as though that is exactly right. I don’t mean simply that the Bach is what used to be called “a sacred work.” It’s about more than that. Perhaps it’s not stretching analogy too far to point to the often-heard idea that Bach’s music is “architectural”, so that there is a harmoniousness about experiencing it in circumstances of great architectural grandeur.

Our own performance, now just a fortnight away, is in Chichester Cathedral. In the world of the great cathedrals, Chichester is small. Intimate, even. But very, very perfectly formed. Walk in through the West doors and you will feel at home, welcomed. It has cloisters (I do love a cloister, with all its resonance of the historic culture in which robed monasticism flourished), perfectly lawned exterior spaces, and a decent café where you can get actual food as well as a cappuccino but (as far as I know) without the Capuchin Friars.

Do come! We have prepared this unique work with love and care, and we would love to share it with you. Singing it in Chichester Cathedral will be a first for the EAC (in spite of our many historic performances in other places) and we would love to have your company.

With our six soloists, two orchestras and three choirs (including a delightful girls’ chamber choir from St Bede’s School in Redhill) it will be an occasion to remember.  You even get the chance to join in the singing of some of the chorales from your seat in the audience if that’s your thing, so you become part of the performance. But you don’t have to! You can continue just to bask in the glory of the music, the glory of the cathedral, and the glory of a day out of the ordinary.

Leslie Olive
Founder & Artistic Director
The English Arts Chorale