Holy Week Festival at St John's Smith Square

Paweł Łukaszewski whose Responsories
feature at this year's Holy Week Festival (photo Marta Filipczyk)

This year's Holy Week Festival at St John's Smith Square, artistic director Nigel Short, runs from 26 March to 1 April 2018. Stephen Layton, Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia return with their Good Friday performance of Bach's St John Passion with Nick Pritchard as the Evangelist and Neal Davies as Christus, Tenebrae and the Aurora Orchestra will perform Arvo Part's Passio and Gabrieli, conductor Paul McCreesh, will perform Bach's Mass in B minor. The Skylark Ensemble, conductor Matthew Guard, brings a programme of music by William Billings

Other performers include the Gesualdo Six, the choir of Royal Holloway  (conductor Rupert Gough), Ex Cathedra (conductor Jeffrey Skidmore), Chantage (conductor James Davey), Temple Church Choir (conductor Roger Sayer), and the Tallis Scholars (conductor Peter Phillips).

As ever, a special feature of the festival is the nightly liturgical event (Wed-Fri) with Nigel Short and the Tenebrae Consort where music during the services will include Pawel Lukaszewski's Responsories.

Full details from the St John's Smith Square website.