Bach St John Passion

Kristian Bezuidenhout

Guest Director and harpsichordist

Kristian Bezuidenhout is one of today’s most notable and exciting keyboard artists, equally at home on the fortepiano, harpsichord, and modern piano. Kristian is an Artistic Director of the Freiburger Barockorchester and Principal Guest Director with the English Concert. He is a regular guest with leading ensembles, including Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and has guest directed numerous period ensembles, including Tafelmusik.  

Kristian’s rich and award-winning discography on Harmonia Mundi includes the complete solo keyboard music of Mozart. Recent releases include Schubert Winterreisse with Mark Padmore, Bach sonatas for violin and harpsichord with Isabelle Faust, Haydn piano sonatas, and the complete Beethoven Concerti with Freiburger Barokorchester. 

Joanne Lunn

Soprano

Joanne Lunn is one of Britain’s leading baroque sopranos, in great demand throughout Europe, the US, and Asia, and known and respected for her warm sound, impressive coloratura, and attention to the words. Bach is a real love and joy for her in her career. She was part of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in the year 2000 with John Eliot Gardiner and now regularly works with groups such as Bach Collegium Japan, The Dunedin Consort, Tafelmusik, and Concerto Copenhagen—with whom she recorded Bach’s St John Passion in April 2021. Recent highlights include several performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor (Knabenchor Hannover, Oregon Bach Festival, and Tafelmusik), as well as Steffani’s La Lotta d’Hercole  (Musica Alpa Ripa Hannover), Monteverdi’s Vespers at London’s Wigmore Hall (La Nuova Musica), Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Concerto Copenhagen), Mozart Requiem  (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra), and a US tour of Bach cantatas with the Dunedin Consort.

James Gilchrist

Evangelist and tenor soloist

British tenor James Gilchrist’s extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world. Recent highlights have included singing the role of Rev. Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes in Deborah Warner’s award-winning production at the Teatro Real, Madrid, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as well as with Bergen Philharmonic in performances at the Edinburgh International Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Grieghallen, and Den Norske Opera. Further highlights include Haydn’s Creation for a staged production with Garsington Opera and Ballet Rambert, and a return to King’s College, Cambridge to perform St Matthew Passion as part of Stephen Cleobury’s final Easter week as Director of Music.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and the St John and St Matthew Passions feature prominently in his schedule, and he is celebrated as perhaps the finest Evangelist of his generation. As one review noted, “he hasn’t become a one-man Evangelist industry by chance.” 

Nicholas Burns

Countertenor

From Vancouver, British Columbia, countertenor Nicholas Burns has been described as possessing a “thrilling voice” and past performances have been described as a “revelation” (Opera Canada). He has appeared with the American Bach Soloists, Early Music Vancouver, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, The Theatre of Early Music, King’s College Halifax, Clavecin en concert, Montréal Baroque, Les Idées Heureuses, and Arion Baroque Orchestra. Aside from singing, Nicholas is an accomplished bagpiper, having won the World Pipe Band Championships in 2012.

Peter Harvey

Christus and baritone 

One of the foremost interpreters of the music of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries, Peter Harvey has made well over 150 recordings in repertoire spanning eight centuries, with an emphasis on music from the High Baroque. A key participant in their Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, his many recordings with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir include the two celebrated solo cantatas Ich habe genug and Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen.

Peter performs and records regularly with the J. S. Bachstiftung St. Gallen (Rudolf Lutz), the Orchestra of the 18th Century (Daniel Reuss), and Concerto Copenhagen (Lars Ulrik Mortensen), with whom he also made his debut at the Royal Danish Opera in The Fairy Queen, as well as recordings of Bach’s Hohe Messe and Johannespassion, and Handel’s Brockespassion.

In addition to Tafelmusik itself, other close relationships tie him to the Gaechinger Cantorey and Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Hans Christoph Rademann), an association that has produced numerous recordings, and with whom he teaches regularly on the residential ‘Meisterkurs’. With the Budapest Festival Orchestra and its Music Director Iván Fischer, he has made operatic appearances (Die Zauberflöte, L’incoronazione di Poppea, L’Orfeo and Pelléas et Mélisande) at theatres including the Grand Théâtre de Genève.