Passionate performance: Music, drama tell stories of Jesus’ last days – Pittsburgh Post

Andrey Nemzer’s soaring voice announced the sad news to the full house in the St. Vincent Archabbey Basilica.

“Es ist vollbracht” — “It is finished” — the countertenor sang during a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. John Passion.” Bach’s two-hour-long masterpiece for soloists, orchestra and choir is among the traditional works often performed during the Lenten and Easter seasons. These passion plays, oratorios and cantatas all tell stories about the final days of Jesus on earth.

The aria for the countertenor — a male singer whose voice is in the same range as a female mezzo-soprano — marks the moment in the work when Jesus dies on the cross.

The recent performance of  “St. John Passion” by the Pittsburgh Symphony and The Mendelssohn Choir at the Benedictine church in Unity was one of many productions with religious themes performed at this time of year. The Easter season often overlaps with the older Jewish festival of Passover. Other springtime works draw on stories from the Old Testament. Earlier this month, for example, the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale performed Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah.” Those performances were at Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church and at Ingomar United Methodist Church in Franklin Park.

Passion plays traditionally have been among the most popular of seasonal programs, but their numbers have been declining in recent years. The last of more than 400 performances of “Why Must He Die?” were given in 2014, ending an almost three-decade Lenten run. The play with music had its roots at St. James Catholic School in

Article source: http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2016/03/25/Passionate-performance-Music-drama-tell-stories-of-Jesus-last-days/stories/201603250003