MUSIC IN THE ABBEY

BACH St. John Passion

Friday, 29th March 20136.00 p.m.

Orchestra of St John'sConductor – John Lubbock

OSJ Voices, Chorus Master – Jeremy JackmanEvangelist – Stuart Jackson Christus – Ed Ballard

Soprano – Ilona Domnich Counter Tenor – Roderick MorrisTenor – Christopher Turner Bass – Johnny Herford

Music in the Abbey patron: Rick Rowse

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BLACKWELL THE KNOWLEDGE RETAILER

Bach composed his St John Passion during the early months of 1723, intending it as a GoodFriday service for Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where he was expecting to be appointed Cantor.

To appreciate Bach's St. John Passion, it is useful first to compare it to his St. Matthew Passion(composed 1736). Both are large works that set two chapters of the passion story inrecitative. The tenor is the narrator, the voice of the Evangelist, whether John or Matthew,and the other soloists sing the words of Jesus, Pilate, Peter, and others who participate in thestory.Whenever the crowd, the soldiers, or another group of people speak, Bach gives theirwords to the chorus with more elaborate settings than in the solo recitatives.

The chorus and soloists have a second role as active listeners to the story.The soloists' ariasand the chorales of the chorus are placed at telling points in the scriptures where theirmodern (to Bach) texts serve as an appropriate commentary.

Bach takes his cue from the difference in the texts.The account in John is less dramatic thanin the other gospels. Accordingly, Bach makes of it a subtler, more personal, more intimatestory. Some of the omissions John makes were apparently just too much for Bach. Heborrows from the gospel of Matthew for Peter's lament and for the earthquake, both of whichare colorfully set.

The work is flanked by two massive choruses, the opening Herr, unser Herrscher, a complexand compelling invocation, and the ending Ruht wohl, a sweet and lingering gravesideparting. Within this framework Bach transcends mere sequence of individual numbers byarranging musically similar choruses symmetrically around a central chorale when Pilatesearches for a way to release Christ while the high priests scream for Christ to die.

Here and throughout the work, Bach pairs off choral movements that share similar texts orsentiments.The music with which the soldiers mockingly hail the King of the Jews reappearswhen the priests demand that Pilate "write not that he is King of the Jews."

Solo arias are characterized by their intricacy in form and wealth of imagery.The alto's Vonden Stricken, "From the tangle of my transgression," is an elaborate weaving of vocal andinstrumental lines. In the tenor aria Erwäge, "Consider," the words for "waves of water" aresung in undulating phrases and "rainbow" is one long rhapsodic arch. Ich folge dir, "I willfollow you," has a flute line that "follows" after the soprano line.The bass Eilt, "Hasten" is acompelling "running" line of eighth notes. Bach's St. John Passion is gloomy, stressful, highlyemotional, and powerfully meditative. Its depth comes from its subtlety.

Taken from programme notes by by Audrey Wong and Norm Proctor

"I think it is essential that people can easily follow the story of the passion but at the sametime the sound of the German langauge is as integral to the sound of Bach's music as is hischoice of instrumentation. To this end we will be singing the recitatives in English and thearias and choruses in German" John Lubbock

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PLEASE DO NOT APPLAUD BEFORE OR AFTER THE PERFORMANCE

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PLEASE DO NOT APPLAUD AT THE END OF THE PERFORMANCE

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BIOGRAPHIES

John LubbockJohn Lubbock is well known as the founder and conductor of the Orchestra of St John’s. Hebegan his musical life as a chorister at St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle and later, havingstudied singing at the Royal Academy of Music, went on to sing with the John Alldis choir,was a founder member of the London Symphony Chorus and was a member of the SwingleSingers.

John founded his orchestra in 1967, whilst still a student at the Royal Academy of Music, withthe aim of building an orchestra that would serve the community and not just be part of the‘music scene’.The community bias has been the main drive behind his tireless enthusiasm andlife-long commitment to making the highest quality of music making available to those whomight otherwise have had little or no musical experience. He has single-handedly gatheredaround him a group of distinguished musicians who are not only outstanding performers butwho share his ethos of bringing music to people of all ages and from all walks of life.

Besides the orchestra’s public concerts John and his players give around 40 concerts a year toautistic children and others with learning difficulties through his charity ‘Music for Autism’.They have also over the last three years developed a series of concerts for people withDementia. Since the birth of his autistic son he has become very involved in the world ofmusic and disabled children. Apart from Music for Autism he is a founder trustee of theThomley Hall Centre for children with all special needs, where Music for Autism hasprovided and equipped a music building. He is a trustee of the Music for Life Foundationwhich enables gifted, but disabled musicians to access music making of the highest calibre andsome have performed with OSJ and OSJ Voices. He is also a trustee of the Clear SkyFoundation, which provides play therapy for emotionally damaged children and with whomthe members of OSJ will be participating, again sponsored by Music for Autism.

John is a prison visitor at Huntercombe prison where he is developing a choir which, in thenew year, will give a concert with members of OSJ to which the public will be invited.

In 1999 John received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music.

OSJ VoicesSince its first appearance OSJ Voices has established itself as one of the country's foremostchoral groups. Its Chorus Master is Jeremy Jackman.

The choir gives a number of concerts a year with the Orchestra of St John's. Flexible in bothsize and approach it is equally at home with the familiar, the less well known and the brandnew.

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Its repertoire includes a variety of a capella music from the 16th to the 20th century; largerchoral masterpieces such as Handel's Messiah and the Requiems of Mozart and Brahms; andcontemporary works such as Stephen Montague's Varshavian Autumn, which was writtenespecially for them and recorded with the orchestra on the Montague CD Snakebite.

Nothing if not versatile, the choir has also featured on Roberto Alagna's Christmas CD(EMI);broadcast Schumann's Requiem on Classic FM; appeared in Doomwatch for Channel Four;and provided the voices behind the BBC TV trailer for the 2002 Six Nations Championship!

In 2004 OSJ Voices celebrated its tenth anniversary. OSJ's Associate Composer BenjaminWallfisch commemorated this event by writing A Winter's Tale for them which was firstperformed in December of that year. In 2008, OSJ Voices featured on the BBC2 televisionseries Maestro. OSJ Voices are directed by Chorus Master, Jeremy Jackman.

Jeremy JackmanTo lovers of vocal music it was Jeremy Jackman’s face that was known around the world as amember of The King’s Singers. Now it is his back (“much my best side”) that is more familiarto audiences in the United Kingdom and abroad, as he pursues an increasingly busyinternational career as a conductor and choral director.

Jeremy started his career as a singer, performing throughout Europe as a soloist, as a memberof fledgling versions of The Tallis Scholars and The Sixteen, and in opera. In 1980 he becamea member of The King’s Singers, and for a decade shared their demanding internationalschedule, performing in the world’s most prestigious concert halls, and making countlessrecordings and broadcasts.

In 1990 he decided to concentrate on musical direction. He has been Chorus Master of theLondon Philharmonic Choir and the Belfast ‘Phil’ and is now Director of Music for theEnglish Baroque Choir, Chorus Master of OSJ Voices and also conducts the Cecilian Singers(Leicester).

Jeremy has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brandenburg Sinfonia, theOrchestra of St John’s and the English Sinfonia in venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, RoyalAlbert Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, St John’s Smith Square andBirmingham Symphony Hall. At Alexandra Palace he may well have broken the world recordfor conducting several zoos-worth of children in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde. Large royaltycheques (with very small figures printed on them) occasionally land on Jeremy’s mat inrecognition of his services as the singer of the theme music for the Elizabethan series of‘Blackadder’.

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Stuart JacksonStuart Jackson was a choral scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, studying Biological Sciences,before beginning his training at the Royal Academy of Music, where he is currently a memberof the Opera School, studying with Ryland Davies and vocal coach Jonathan Papp.

Aged 25, and the youngest finalist, Stuart won second prize at the 2011 Wigmore HallInternational Song Competition. He is also the winner of the 2010 Oxford LiederScholarship, the 2010 Flora Nielsen Song Prize, the 2010 Elena Gerhardt Lieder Prize andthe 2010 Chelsea Schubert Song Prize.

In 2012, he made his debut with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and StephenLayton, singing the tenor arias in Bach St John Passion in Vienna, and sang the tenor solo inVivaldi Dixit Dominus with the Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr on tour toEdinburgh, Paris and Amsterdam. He has also sung Handel Messiah, Saul, and Israel in Egyptunder Laurence Cummings, and as a keen recitalist, has appeared at Wigmore Hall, KingsPlace and St John’s Smith Square, London and at Oxford's Holywell Room.

Whilst at the Academy, Stuart was involved in several Bach Cantata projects underconductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Peter Schreier and for Royal AcademyOpera he has sung Bénédict in Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict, First Armed Man in Mozart'sDie Zauberflöte and Count Errico in Haydn's La Vera Costanza, as well as appearing in operascenes in many Mozart roles including Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni,Tito in La Clemenza diTito and the title role Idomeneo as well as Fritz in Mascagni's L'amico Fritz, Araquil inMassenet's La Navarraise and the title role in Rossini's Le Comte Ory.

Stuart is a Samling scholar, and a current recipient of the Sybil Tutton Award administered bythe Musicians Benevolent Fund.

Ed BallardEd Ballard is currently on the Preparatory Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music inLondon, studying with Glenville Hargreaves and Audrey Hyland. He is generously supportedby the Lady Clare Fund, a Maidment Scholarship administered by the Musicians BenevolentFund, a Clumber Studio Scholarship administered by the Royal Academy of Music,Christopher Ball and The Josephine Baker Trust.

Ed is a keen recitalist and in June 2012 won first prize in the Marjorie Thomas Art of SongCompetition. He is a member of Royal Academy of Music Song Circle and of the MusiciansBenevolent Fund Making Music Partnership and has recently appeared in masterclasses withthe German Baritone Florian Boesch and the Austrian Pianist, Helmut Deutsch.

Operatic roles include Count Almaviva in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (WinterbourneOpera), Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte and Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer

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Night’s Dream (Shadwell Opera Company),Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (DartingtonInternational Summer School), Death in Holst’s Savitri and Louis in The Wandering Scholar(Grimeborn Opera Festival), John the Butcher in Vaughan Williams' Hugh the Drover(Hampstead Garden Opera), Baron Douphol in Verdi’s La Traviata (Go Opera), andMother/Brother in Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins (Carmen Elektra UndergroundOpera). In summer 2012 he covered the lead role, Chao Lin, in Judith Weir's A Night at theChinese Opera for British Youth Opera.

Concert highlights include Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, Bach St Matthew Passion,Handel Messiah, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Fauré,Duruflé and Howells Reqiuem, Haydn Nelson Mass and Theresiennemesse and Purcell ComeYe Sons of Art and Ode to St Cecilia. He has appeared with the Britten Sinfonia in St John’s,Smith Square, the Orchestra of St Paul's in St John's, Smith Square, the Brandenburg Sinfoniain St James' Piccadilly, and with King's College Choir in Chester Cathedral. From autumn2012, he will be performing as a soloist in the Royal Academy/Kohn Foundation BachCantata Series. Future plans include Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium with Paul Spicer inLichfield Cathedral and Handel's Messiah with the Orchestra of St John's in King's Place inLondon.

Ed began singing as a Chorister at the Temple Church and was subsequently a Choral Scholarin Clare College Choir and King's College Choir in Cambridge, with whom he was a featuredsoloist on the 2009 BBC Television Broadcast of Carols from King's. He now sings as aGentleman-in-Ordinary at the Chapel Royal, St James' Palace.

Ed was born in London and grew up going to school in the Square Mile, where he also studiedat the Junior Department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Mollie Petrie.He holds a BA and MPhil in History from Clare College, Cambridge.

Ilona DomnichOne of the most exciting young Opera singers of today, Ilona was plucked by the legendaryVera Rosza from St Petersburg to study at the Royal College of Music in London.

Her heartfelt warmth in performance has led to concerts with the BBC Concert Orchestra,Tatiana at Grange Park Opera, Gilda with Southbank Sinfonia in UK and Italy, Mimi withVignette productions in London, Cambridge, Festival de Musique Cordial, Festival deMusique Menton in France. Elle in La Voix Humaine with BBC Concert Orchestra at QueenElizabeth Hall, Chopin recitals with Angela Hewitt in Trasimeno Festival,Venus The Judgmentof Paris at Wigmore Hall, Countess in Figaro Co opera, Zerlina Don Giovanni and PaminaDie Zauberflote with English Touring Opera, Blondchen Die Entfuhrung at Dartington operaschool, Tatiana Evgene Onegin at Iford and Riverside operas, as well as Madam Herz DerSchauspieldirektor; Colombina The Jewel Box and Lizetta La vera costanza with BamptonClassical Opera.

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In recitals Ilona appeared at St.Martin-in-the-fields, St.James's Piccadilly, St.George'sHanover Square, Conway Hall, Loch Shiel Festival (BBC radio Scotland), Jersey InternationalFestival, in Paris and Jerusalem.

In symphonic repertoire Ilona sang soprano solo in Ravel's Shaharezade, Brahms' Requiem,Mozart's Mass in C minor, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Mahler's Symphony No 2, Faure's Requiem,Verdi's Requiem, Dvorak's Te Deum, Strauss Brentano Songs Op 68, Shostakovich SymphonyNo 14 and Beethoven's Symphony No 9.

Future engagements include: Der neue Orpheus, Kurt Weill with BBC concert orchestra atQueen Elizabeth Hall, Jacqueline in Fortunio at Grange Park, Rosina second cast-performance on 15th March in the Barber of Seville for English National Opera, where Ilonacovered in The Tales of Hoffman- Olympia, Antonia, Giullietta and Stella in spring 2012.Ilona has been studying with:Vera Rosza, Enid Hartle, Susan Roberts, Ludmila Andrew, JoanRodgers, Janis Kelly,Yvonne Kenny, Jonathan Papp and Donald Maxwell.

Roderick MorrisRoderick Morris started his musical career as a child with New College Choir, Oxford. Hegraduated with a Bachelor of Music honors degree from the University of Cambridge, andthen went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Since this time, he has performed as arecitalist, oratorio and operatic soloist in the UK and abroad, performing in places includingSouth Korea, Japan, Europe and North America.

Roderick studied with Royal Academy Opera in London. His operatic credits here includethe title role in Cavalli's Il Giasone, and Satirino (La Calisto), working with Jane Glover andAnthony Legge. Other roles include Guido in Handel's Flavio, Cupid in Blow's Venus andAdonis with La Nuova Musica under David Bates,Athamas in Handel's Semele, and The Spiritin Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, with Kiez Oper in Berlin.

Future operatic performances include The Prince in Toby Young's The Daisy Chain, at the Tetea Tete Opera Festival with Gestalt Arts, which he recently previewed at LSO St Lukes.

He took part in a Britten Pears Young Artist's Program, performing Bach's St MatthewPassion under Masaaki Suzuki, and took the role of David in Handel's Saul at the Spitalfield'sFestival under Laurence Cummings. He recently performed Handel's Messiah with Sir JohnLubbock and the Orchestra of St John's at King's Place, having performed the same workearlier in Roskilde Cathedral, Denmark. His oratorio repertoire is not limited to the Baroqueand past performances have included Berstein's Chichester Psalms, Haydn's Theresienmesse,Orff's Carmina Burana, and Mozart's Requiem. Among the groups with which he hasperformed as a soloist are Rare Theatrical, Charivari Agreeable and Manchester Baroque.

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Christopher TurnerChristopher Turner read Music at the University of Hull, furthering his studies with BarbaraRobotham at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the National Opera Studio, wherehe was sponsored by the Scottish Endowment Trust and The Friends of Covent Garden. Henow studies with Philip Doghan.

He has received many prizes, including The Michael and Joyce Kennedy Prize for SingingStrauss,The Frederic Cox Prize, the Elizabeth Harwood Prize and, most recently, a Countessof Munster ‘Young Star’ Award and the Sybil Tutton Award from the Musicians BenevolentFund. He was also a major scholar of the Sir Peter Moores Foundation.

Christopher Turner made his professional début as Dr Blind in Strauss' Die Fledermaus forScottish Opera On Tour before joining the Young Singers Programme at English NationalOpera where roles have included Robert Wilson in John Adams' Doctor Atomic, First ArmedMan/First Priest in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Beppe in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Simpleton inMussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Spoletta in Puccini's Tosca, Pong in Pucinni's Turandot andMessenger in Verdi's Aida. During 2010/2011, he sang Janek in Janáãek's The MakropulosCase and Esquire in Wagner's Parsifal for English National Opera and Borsa in Verdi'sRigoletto for Scottish Opera.

At the RNCM he sung Prunier in Puccini's La Rondine, Don Ramiro in Rossini's LaCenerentola, and Sellem in Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress. He has also sung Remendado inBizet's Carmen for Longborough Festival Opera and his recordings include Aubry inDonizetti's Maria di Rohan and Keeper of the Tower of Siena in Donizetti's Pia de' Tolomeifor Opera Rara. He sings regularly in concert, his repertoire including Bach's ChristmasOratorio, Magnificat and St Matthew Passion, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Handel'sJephtha, Judas Maccabaeus, and Messiah, Haydn's Creation, Mozart's Requiem and Rossini'sPetite Messe Solennelle. His performances have taken him throughout the UK, and also toEurope and the Far East.

Johnny Herford Johnny Herford was born in London and grew up in Oxfordshire, singing as a treble in NewCollege Choir. He went on to study at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy ofMusic, where his teacher was Mark Wildman.

He enjoys singing a wide range of repertoire, with a particular interest in contemporary and20th-century music. He has sung principal roles in operas by Judith Weir, Jonathan Dove, andmemorably in the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Kommilitonen. Otheroperatic performances have included The Magic Flute (Papageno),CurlewRiver (theTraveller), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius).

On the concert platform he appears as a soloist in music from Monteverdi to the present day,

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with highlights being Bach’s Passions, B-Minor Mass and Christmas Oratorio, Haydn’sSeasons, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Brahms’ German Requiem, Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, andVaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs. He sang the baritone solo in the UK premiere ofSibelius’s Kuolema with the English Chamber Orchestra at Kings Place.

Johnny has studied song repertoire with Richard Stokes, and his recital highlights haveincluded Schubert’s Winterreise, Schumann’s Myrthen, performing on BBC Radio 3, at theWigmore Hall and at the Oxford Lieder Festival. Johnny is grateful to the Sickle Foundationfor their generous support.

SopranosIrene AddingtonMarianne BartonDiana BriggsSophie CastellJanet ColdstreamLynne HollandElaine HorderClaire HunterHelen LincolnDaniela MoMargaret PerkinsLey SpicerMargaret WallaceCharlotte Way Ginny WoodrowRosemary Zolynski

AltosBarbara AldenKate BoneKate EvansLucy GibsonJanet HeadleyNicki HeenanAyesha LabromAlexandra Loewe

Miriam PowerSarah ScarbroughCatriona Sutherland-HawesJenny WestonYee-Liu Williams

TenorsPaul AddingtonPhilip BoothGraham FrankelClive HollandSteve JamesGraham LovedayDavid LowickEamonn MarshallGraeme SmithTrevor Smithers

BassesGareth BrownJulian BrownPeter DeanDavid HaddonStephen HallNigel HorderPaul ReidJohn Sutton

OSJ Voices

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Orchestra List

Violin 1Jan SchmolckRichard MiloneRebecca Scott

Violin 2Jessica O'LearyJake Rea

ViolaBob SmissenRachel Byrt

CelloJohn Heley Jonathan Tunnell

Double BassLynda Houghton

FluteCelia ChambersChristine Hankin

OboeChris O'neal Alison Alty

BassoonGavin McNaughton

KeyboardJohn Constable

OSJ BoardPETER COUSINS ChairmanROB DIXONGORDON MOULTRIE

ANDREW MOORFIELDWILF EATONDAVID McLAREN

Oxford Development BoardLORD MOSER ChairmanDAVID BARNETTCAROLINE LAINGJOHN SIMMONS

MARTINE BENOITAMANDA ROWSEROB DIXON

OSJESTHER JACKSON Box Office and Front of House ManagerCHRISTOPHER O’NEAL Orchestral ManagerLEE STEPHENSON Librarian

KAREN GADD Sponsorship ConsultantNICKY PRENTIS Marketing ConsultantGRAHAM LOVEDAY AccountantNED CROWTHER Orchestral Assistant

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Founding PatronsMr John ArmitageMr and Mrs David BarnettMr Nigel HamwayMr Charles HendersonMr and Mrs Llewelyn-JonesMr David McLarenMr Andrew MoorfieldCharlotte WayFaith Marchel

Corporate SupportersBird-Moore PartnershipCitiCPMDeutsche PostbankLloyds-TSBRichardsonsCameronsCritchleysOxford Bus CompanyOxford Instruments

Ashmolean Proms SupportersMartin & Elise SmithIan & Caroline Laing

Principal Chair SupportersWilf and Liz Eaton (cello)Mr and Mrs J Taylor (viola)Peter Bennett-Jones (violin)

FriendsRobert BoasBoshers (Cholsey) LtdMrs Diana BiddlestoneMr M J BoxfordMr J DrysdaleSir Martin and Lady SmithBarbara EastIan and Caroline Laing

Trusts and FoundationThe PF Charitable TrustThe Greys Charitable TrustThe Tolkien TrustThe Sandra Charitable Trust

Orchestra of St John’s SupportersBenefactor: Toby BlackwellPatron: Music in the Abbey; Rick Rowse

The Orchestra of St John’s is enormously grateful for the generous financial support of itsPatrons and Supporters.Without their assistance it would not be able to continue performingmusic at the highest possible standard or to carry out its community work with autisticchildren and their families and people with dementia.

If you appreciate OSJ’s work and would like to find out more about becoming a sponsor ofthe orchestra, please contact Peter Cousins on peter.cousins@osj.org.uk.