Thames Philarmonic Choir: Bach's St John Passion

The second major event in the Thames Philharmonic Choir (TPC) Golden Jubilee season will feature internationally known tenor, Neil Jenkins, in a performance of Bach’s St John Passion. It will take place in the beautifully refurbished All Saints’ Parish Church, Kingston, on Saturday 14 March at 7.30 pm.

This performance of one of the great choral-orchestral masterpieces will use a masterly new English version by legendary tenor Neil Jenkins, who will also sing the role of the Evangelist. For this version, Jenkins has adapted the biblical text of the Authorised Version to fit Bach’s vocal lines and in which the simple meaning of the texts comes through more clearly than in previous translations.

With one exception, all the other soloists have appeared with the Choir with great success on previous occasions; they include Yvonne Howard who has sung in opera, concerts and recitals in Europe, Asia and North and South America, and Michael Bundy, who has had a successful career across a range of musical genres and is one of Friday Night is Music Night’s ‘Star Singers’. They will be accompanied by the Thames Festival Orchestra, led as usual by the distinguished violinist Adrian Levine.

As with Messiah, performed by the Choir in Kingston in December, St John Passion featured in the1964-65 season in the first performances of the two choirs that subsequently merged to form TPC under the baton of Artistic Director John Bate. The Choir’s formation and development is synonymous with John Bate who was founder, in 1964, of both the Putney Bach Choir and the Richmond Choral Society. In 1975, the two choirs merged, becoming well known in South-West London and beyond as the John Bate Choir – described as a provisional name. It took another 20 years for the Choir to agree on a permanent name: Thames Philharmonic Choir was finally adopted in 1995.

This concert by TPC, many of whose members are drawn from the Boroughs of Richmond, Kingston and Wandsworth, forms part of the Kingston Arts Festival of the Voice 2015 and is supported by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

All-Saint's Parish Church, Market Pl, Kingston upon Thames KT1 1JP

For further details, visit: thamesphilchoir.org.uk/current_season.htm