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St John Passion

London, Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall

Sunday 29 March 2026, 19:00

Book now

Music

JS BACH St John Passion
Guest Artists

Hilary Cronin soprano
Helen Charlston mezzo-soprano
Jonathan Hanley tenor
James Way Evangelist (tenor)
Peter Edge Christus (baritone)
Choir of the Age of Enlightenment
Johanna Soller conductor

Price

£17 – £64 (Premium £82)*

Johanna Soller makes her London debut in Bach’s soulful St John Passion. The Artistic Director of the Munich Bach Choir has been praised for her unique combination of emotion, focused energy and intelligence.

The St John Passion is the earlier of Bach’s two surviving settings – although not necessarily his first work in the genre. A more intimate work than the St Matthew Passion, it distils Jesus suffering and sacrifice into a more direct narrative. In part this comes from the distinctive nature of the Gospel of John, with its deep-seated spiritual purity. The church authorities in Leipzig insisted that the Passion story and Jesus’ words could only be told according to the biblical text, but Bach pulls off a clever gambit by interpolating the gospel into a compilation of popular contemporary librettos, such as that by Barthold Heinrich Brockes that Handel and Telemann had set in the previous decade.

In 2023 Johanna Soller became the Music Director of the Munich Bach Choir and Bach Orchestra, the first woman to hold the position in its history. In 2019 she founded her own choir and period instrument ensemble, capella sollertia, with whom she organises the series Cantatum 1715 and is working on recording the complete cantatas of Johann Ludwig Bach. Johanna has worked with ensembles and choir including Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Dunedin Consort and the Orquesta de Córdoba, and she is also increasingly in demand as a musical director of opera.

Hilary Cronin (soprano) Photo © Helena Cooke

Jonathan Hanley (tenor). Photo © Matthew Johnson

James Way (Evangelist). Photo © Raphael Neal

Peter Edge (Christus)

Johanna Soller leads an outstanding cast of soloists, including former and current Rising Stars of the Enlightenment James Way, Helen Charlston and Florian Störtz, tenor Jonathan Hanley, and BBC Music Magazine Rising Star (2022) Hilary Cronin.

Part of Fantastic Symphonies: Southbank Centre Season 2025-26

*Our ticket price includes a £2 restoration levy from the Southbank Centre. This goes towards maintenance and improvements works on the Southbank Centre’s historic buildings, in particular Royal Festival Hall, and is not subject to any discounts.

The OAE’s 40^th anniversary seasons in 2025/26 and 2026/27 are made possible with the support of The Forty Circle.

"As an interpreter she risks a point of view, not hiding behind the neutrality of the score.“

Abendzeitung

Violinist Julia Kuhn and bass player Cecelia Bryggemyer playing in the playground at Acland burghley School

Japanese conductor Masaaki Suzuki conducts the OAE with singer Florian Stortz

OAE musicians run a workshop in a school classroom

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St John Passion

London, Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall

Sunday 29 March 2026, 19:00

Event detail

Johanna Soller makes her London debut in Bach’s soulful St John Passion. The Artistic Director of the Munich Bach Choir has been praised for her unique combination of emotion, focused energy and intelligence.

Guest Artists

"As an interpreter she risks a point of view, not hiding behind the neutrality of the score.“

Did you know you can support the OAE?

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