As in previous years Rayfield Allied has a strong showing over Easter with many of our singers and conductors engaged in concerts celebrating Passiontide around Europe.
In London Laurence Cummings conducts the annual London Handel Festival performance of the St Matthew Passion at St George’s Hannover Square, set within the context of the Good Friday service.
In Dublin Nicholas McGegan leads a performance of the St John Passion with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in a concert which features William Towers as the alto soloist.
In Birmingham Grant Doyle joins Ex Cathedra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as Christus for their St Matthew Passion, whilst in Gateshead the Royal Northern Sinfonia celebrate Good Friday with a performance of the Bm Mass directed by Paul McCreesh which includes mezzo-soprano Anna Harvey.
In St John Passion concerts taking place in the south of England James Oxley sings Evangelist in Bournemouth and Ben Bevan sings Christus with the Hannover Band in Canterbury.
Further afield in Germany Nicholas Mulroy sings Evangelist and arias in the St John Passion with Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Concerto Copenhagen, Peter Harvey sing Christus also in the St John at Konzerthaus Berlin with Matthew Halls and Katie Bray sings the less well-known St Mark Passion with Barroksolistene in Arnstadt and Potsdam.
In France Philipp von Steinaecker conducts a performance of the St John Passion with his own period instrument orchestra Musica Saecolorum at the Aix-en-Provence Festival de Pâques and Matthew Brook sings three concerts of the St Matthew Passion with the Orchestra Philharmonique de Strasbourg.