1 Oct 2026
© Mark Allen
Music lovers on both sides of the Atlantic will have the rare opportunity to hear one of the crowning glories of the Western canon performed by some of its foremost interpreters, when the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras honors the 300th anniversary of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with performances of the oratorio at London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields and on a major U.S. tour that begins in Atlanta and culminates at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Together with soloists including Nick Pritchard, Florian Störtz, and Carolyn Sampson, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists perform the work under the leadership of eminent Bach authority Masaaki Suzuki, whose recent MCO debut was hailed as “a dream cantata date” ★★★★★ (The Arts Desk). For U.S. audiences, the tour represents the first chance to experience MCO’s new series of close, long-term partnerships with leading international conductors, each of whom offers fresh insights into the repertoire for which they are celebrated.
“MCO has long led and shaped the field of historical performance. Committed as ever to combining scholarship and musicianship to illuminate the works that shape our culture, we are working to develop close, long-term relationships with a select group of specialist conductors, each with a distinct artistic focus. Masaaki Suzuki is one of the world’s leading Bach interpreters, so it is a real privilege for the ensembles to perform the St Matthew Passion with him at the helm. We look forward to sharing that experience with American audiences on our upcoming U.S. tour.”
MCO General Director Dr. Rosa Solinas
Like Suzuki, MCO has long been synonymous with Bach performances of the highest order. The Times of London hailed the ensembles’ account of the composer’s Mass in B Minor as “matchless, life-enhancing Bach.” Two years ago, MCO demonstrated “a fresh sense of artistic renewal” in Bach’s cantatas, when “the ensemble took the audience on an enchanting musical journey, showcasing their exceptional artistry and energy” (OperaWire). Italy’s Musica welcomed the program as “two hours of musical delight,” adding: “The Monteverdi Choir displayed such effortless virtuosity ..., leaving the audience in awe.” This past spring, MCO’s European tour of Bach’s St John Passion drew a wealth of comparable praise. The Arts Desk declared: “Vocally and instrumentally, the Monteverdi singers and EBS players played at the top of their game. … They sang with absolute authority.” The Guardian admired the ensembles’ “driving cinematic excitement and touching humanity,” while Spain’s Scherzo concluded: “The Monteverdi Choir was impeccable, … once again demonstrat[ing] the enduring quality they maintain year after year.”
© Mark Allen
Scored for soloists, two choirs, and two orchestras, the St Matthew Passion is Bach’s second sacred oratorio depicting the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Set to poetry by Christian Friedrich Henrici, aka Picander, interwoven with chorales and texts drawn from the Lutheran Bible’s Gospel of Matthew, the monumental, multilayered work received its first performance three hundred years ago next spring, on Good Friday, 1727. To mark this milestone anniversary, MCO reunites with internationally renowned Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki. Since founding the Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ) in 1990, Maestro Suzuki has established himself as one of the world’s leading authorities on the composer’s music, accruing honors including the Leipzig Bach Medal, the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize, and a Gramophone Award for his BCJ recording of the St Matthew Passion. Of collaborating on Bach with MCO, he says:
“There is something electrifying about making music with an ensemble whose DNA is so closely entwined with Bach’s. The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists have helped to shape the world’s understanding of this music for decades.”
Masaaki Suzuki
At Suzuki’s MCO debut last year, his rapport with the ensembles in Bach’s music prompted a five-star review from The Arts Desk, which marvelled:
“Here was choral and instrumental Bach performed not just with meticulous professionalism but a dash and verve that filled each movement with an infectious enthusiasm. … In every musical corner, there was colour, vigour and variety to spare. On paper, this meeting of the giants, between the august founder of the Bach Collegium Japan and the world-leading period ensemble, had looked like a dream date. And so it proved.”
For the St Matthew Passion, MCO and Suzuki have assembled a stellar roster of soloists, headed by English tenor Nick Pritchard, a “masterly Evangelist” (The Guardian) who appears on MCO’s Grammy-nominated recording of the St John Passion, and the Christus of German bass-baritone Florian Störtz, winner of top prizes at the International Handel Singing Competition, Helmut Deutsch Song Competition, and International Song Festival Zeist. They will be joined by English soprano Carolyn Sampson OBE, Gramophone’s Artist of the year 2024; Basque soprano Jone Martínez, who “sings with pure, crystalline tone” (Gramophone); English countertenor Alexander Chance, the first of his voice type to win the International Handel Singing Competition; German countertenor Matthias Dähling, a recent winner of the Salvat Beca Bach competition; English tenor Hugo Hymas, who brings “poignant vocal colors and melting tenderness to his performance” (The New York Times); and English bass-baritone Timothy Edlin, another recent Salvat Beca Bach competition laureate, who previously appeared with Suzuki at the Bachcelona Festival.
Taking them to Atlanta’s University of Georgia Performing Arts Center (Feb 13), Carmel, IN’s Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts (Feb 14), Pennsylvania State University’s Center for the Arts (Feb 16), Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Center (Feb 17), Kansas City’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (Feb 18), Ann Arbor’s University of Michigan Hill Auditorium (Feb 20), Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall (Feb 21), and the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage of New York’s Carnegie Hall (Feb 23), the upcoming U.S. tour forms part of MCO’s ongoing new series of close, long-term partnerships with leading international conductors. Fall highlights include Weber’s Oberon with Sir Mark Elder, Handel’s Theodora with Christophe Rousset, and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with Jakob Lehmann.
Find out more about the upcoming Bach: St Matthew Passion tour: https://monteverdi.co.uk/bach-...
