FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fort Wayne, Indiana - 5 April 2005 -The Bach Collegium-Fort Wayne, under the direction of Dr. Daniel Reuning, will perform the complete St. Matthew Passion of J.S. Bach on 7 May 2005 at 7 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 2313 S. Hanna Street (at Creighton). The Fort Wayne community choir of 32 singers will be joined by the Fort Wayne Children's Choir, local professional musicians, and several nationally acclaimed soloists and instrumentalists. Admission will be charged.
The St. Matthew Passion is a musical dramatization of the last hours of Christ's life told in the Gospel of St. Matthew. The text of the Passion is taken from the final two chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew. Bach sets the text to music, making use of a tenor Evangelist who tells the story of the suffering and death of Jesus, a bass who sings the role of Christ, other soloists who sing character roles, and the choir which sings the group responses, variously representing the disciples or the people.
Bach adds 14 great Passion hymns, sung by the choir, and several solo arias, which collectively reflect the Church's response to these events and provide meditations on them. While Bach's St. Matthew Passion deals with the same dramatic events of the life of Christ as Mel Gibson's film treatment of the passion, Bach gives emphasis to salvific reason for the suffering of Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, rather than dwelling on the details of Christ's suffering.
The St. Matthew Passion is widely recognized to include some of the most inspired music of all time.
General admission is $16. Senior's suggested admission is $14. The admission for Students with ID is $5. Children age 12 and under are free when with an adult. Groups (of 10 or more), $10 each.
The Bach Collegium-Fort Wayne is the only local choral-instrumental ensemble that performs regularly with Baroque period instruments and makes extensive use of Baroque performance practices. Using J.S. Bach as its model composer, the Collegium presents through its performances and lectures Bach's major works as well as other works which influenced Bach.