Best Easter music: London concerts and opera to uplift and inspire

By Claudia Pritchard on 23/3/2021

The Easter story told in song, JS Bach and Handel's Messiah, performed by top artists and streamed from London churches and concert halls

Tenebrae sing Bach, St John's Smith Square

Tenebrae sing Bach, St John Smith Square

For consolation and encouragement, perhaps no composer outdoes JS Bach. As part of St John Smith Square's Easter Festival, meticulous vocal ensemble Tenebrae sing short pieces of sacred music and violinist Lana Trotovsek is the violin soloists in soaring instrumental works.

WHEN

Mon 29 March 7:30PM and on demand for 30 days

WHERE

Online

Bach's St John Passion, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Filmed at Battersea Arts Centre with visual effects and narration by Nakhane, an expansive reading of the Passion story from top musicians. Tenor Mark Padmore sings the role of Evangelist and directs the performance. Soloists include Gerald Finley as Christus, Neal Davies as Pilate, with other arias and chorales from Rowan Pierce, Bathany Horak Hallett, Hugo Hymas. OAE leader Margaret Faultless and dynamic keyboard player Steven Devine drive the urgent score.

WHEN

Friday 2 April, 7PM

WHERE

Online

Bach's St Matthew Passion, Amici Voices

Believers and non-believers alike find hope and consolation in this dramatic retelling in music of the Easter story. Amici Voices are joined by soloists including the tenor Nick Pritchard in a work loved for both its thrilling music and its humanity.

WHEN

Sat 3 April, 3PM

WHERE

Online

Nardus Williams is one of eight soloists in ENO's Messiah. Photo: Bertie Watson

Messiah, English National Opera, BBC Two

A power-packed performance of Handel's masterpiece comes from the Coliseum. Filmed for a television audience, the one-hour performance will be brought to life by ENO's creative teams, guests soloists, chorus and orchestra, making full use of the Coliseum's

WHEN

On 03 Apr 2021, 6PM and on demand on iPlayer

WHERE

Online

Bach's St John Passion, English Touring Opera

ETO's profound and intense interpretation of Bach's Easter story in music moved and excited audiences at Temple Church in 2018 and again at Hackney Empire in 2020. This free streaming revisits a Hackney performance of this highly personal piece, articulating the highs and lows of faith, loss and recovery. A 15-minute talk about the work, and a 10-minute documentary preface the 4.10PM performance.

WHEN

Sun 4 April, 3:45PM and then on demand

WHERE

Online

Orpheus Sinfonia responds to the art at the Wallace Collection

Orpheus Sinfonia, Synergy Series, Wallace Collection online

Second in the Synergy Series of concerts in which music and visual art meet in perfect harmony at the Wallace Collection. Orpheus Sinfonia and gallery director Xavier Bray turn to the Wallace Collection's fizzing Rococo treasures, including Fragonard’s The Swing and spectacular Meissen vases, with similarly ornate music by Rameau, Couperin and Gluck.

WHEN

Sun 4 April, 6PM and on demand

Messiah Reimagined, London Handel Festival

With musical ingenuity, live and virtual singing combine in this performance of Handel's fine oratorio, telling the Easter story, Messiah. Laurence Cummings directs an 'off-stage' choir, the London Handel Orchestra and soloists Lucy Crowe, Edward Grint and Iestyn Davies (pictured). Learn more about how London Handel Festival's contribution to the St John Smith Square Easter Festival was achieved here.

WHEN

Mon 5 April, 7PM

WHERE

Online

Messiah, St Martin in the Fields

With audio-visual effects inspired by the beautiful east window of the church on Trafalgar Square, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, St Martin’s Voices, and Nina Dunn Studio bring Handel’s masterpiece oratorio to life. The soloists are Carolyn Sampson (soprano), James Way (tenor) and Benson Wilson (baritone). Part of the Fresh Horizons season of concerts streamed from St Martin in the Fields.

WHEN

Thurs 8 April, 7:30PM, and on demand for 30 days

WHERE

Online

Handel's La Resurrezione

Completing the Easter story, a surprisingly colourful, 90-minute account of the Resurrection by Handel. His lively music underpins characters who are credible witnesses to an extraordinary event. Soloists include bass Brindley Sherratt, counter-tenor Lawrence Zazzo, and sopranos Lucy Crowe and Danielle de Niese (pictured). SKY ARTS filmed the English Concert under Harry Bickett at St John Smith Square.

WHEN

Mon 3 May, 7PM

WHERE

Sky Arts

Best Easter music: London concerts and opera to uplift and inspire

The Easter story told in song, JS Bach and Handel's Messiah, performed by top artists and streamed from London churches and concert halls

Tenebrae sing Bach, St John Smith Square

Bach's St John Passion, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Bach's St Matthew Passion, Amici Voices

Messiah, English National Opera, BBC Two

Bach's St John Passion, English Touring Opera

Orpheus Sinfonia, Synergy Series, Wallace Collection online

Messiah Reimagined, London Handel Festival

Messiah, St Martin in the Fields

Handel's La Resurrezione

Easter

JS Bach

Handel

Wallace Collection

Lucy Crowe

Iestyn Davies

Danielle de Niese

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