St Matthew Passion
By david mckee, director of music
9 march 2026
charterhouse news
Charterhouse brings Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion to life in a large-scale performance featuring choirs, an orchestra, and professional soloists.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) is one of the most profound works in the choral repertoire – a monumental setting of the Passion narrative from the Gospel of St Matthew.
Performed live at Charterhouse, the work brought together the Chapel Choir, Schola Cantorum, and Symphony Orchestra, joined by visiting prep school choirs and international soloists. In total, more than 200 singers and instrumentalists took part in the performance, creating the scale and richness required for Bach’s powerful Good Friday meditation on suffering, compassion, and redemption.
Written for double choir and double orchestra, St Matthew Passion remains a cornerstone of Western sacred music. The performance featured several of the work’s most recognisable movements, including Erbarme dich, O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, and the opening chorus Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen.
The collaboration between Charterhouse musicians, visiting choristers, and professional performers created a powerful interpretation of this monumental work.
The full work takes three hours, but most performances in the UK are shortened and are also sung in English rather than the original German. Not at Charterhouse!
catherine smith, archivist & member of Schola Cantorum
Listen to the full performance below: |
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