The English Concert Bach
Mass in B Minor
Thursday 20 February 2025, 7.30pm
… do join us in the Café in the Crypt during the interval for refreshments.
The English Concert Bach Mass in B Minor
St Martin-in-the-Fields
Thursday 20 February 2025, 7.30pm
Isabel Schicketanz soprano
Joanna Songi soprano
Lucile Richardot mezzo soprano
Samuel Boden tenor
Florian Störtz bass
Choir of The English Concert
The English Concert
Kristian Bezuidenhout director
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Mass in B Minor
Please note that there will be a 20-minute interval during this performance.
Cover photo by Lia Vittone Photography
Chorus: Kyrie eleison
Duet: Christe eleison (Sopranos: Rachel Haworth & Ailsa Campbell)
Chorus: Kyrie eleison
Chorus: Gloria in excelsis
Chorus: Et in terra pax
Aria: Laudamus te (Soprano: Danni O’Neill)
Chorus: Gratias agimus tibi
Duet: Domine Deus (Soprano: Maisie Hulbert, Tenor: James Botcher)
Chorus: Qui tollis peccata mundi
Aria: Qui sedes ad dextram Patris (Alto: Lucy Gibbs)
Aria: Quoniam tu solus sanctus (Bass: Matthew Bernstein)
Chorus: Cum Sancto Spiritu
Interval: 20 minutes
Chorus: Credo in unum Deum
Chorus: Patrem onmipotentem
Duet: Et in unum Dominum (Soprano: Maisie Hulbert, Alto: Gabriella Noble)
Chorus: Et incarnatus est
Chorus: Crucifixus
Chorus: Et resurrexit
Aria: Et in Spiritum sanctum Dominum (Bass: Ben Tomlin)
Chorus: Confiteor
Chorus: Et expecto
Chorus: Sanctus
Chorus: Osanna in excelsis
Aria: Benedictus (Tenor: Thomas Perkins)
Chorus: Osanna in excelsis
Aria: Agnus Dei (Alto: Sophie Timms)
Chorus: Dona nobis pacem
Who we are
Bach Mass in B Minor
On 21 March 1685 in Eisenach, Germany, Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a large family of established musicians. His father and uncles were all professional musicians with formidable reputations and the young Johann Sebastian had ample opportunities to learn the family trade, studying music theory, violin and keyboard instruments with his father and older brothers. This seemingly idyllic musical upbringing, however, took a painful turn when Bach was nine years old and his parents both died within nine months of each other. Fortunately, the orphaned Bach was adopted by his uncle Johann Christoph, who oversaw his continuing development as a chorister, organist and – eventually – composer.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is an architectural jewel sitting at the corner of one of the world’s most famous squares. It’s a place of encounter between God and humanity, the wealthy and the destitute, culture and commerce. We welcome you into the warmth of this vibrant community.
From the age of 18, Bach was engaged in a number of official positions as a church and court musician in the towns Arnstadt, Weimar and Anhalt-Cöthen, where he became experienced with the fashionable styles across both sacred and secular music. In May 1723 he moved to Leipzig to take up the prestigious role which he would occupy for the remaining 27 years of his life: Director of Choir and Music in Leipzig. It was here that he achieved his masterworks of sacred vocal music, including the majority of his 200+ cantatas, the St John Passion (1724), St Matthew Passion (1736-42) and Christmas Oratorio (1734). In the final decade of his life, Bach gravitated towards projects which summarised his life’s achievements as a musician of peerless genius. He
demonstrated his mastery of keyboard counterpoint in ‘The Art of the Fugue’ (1748) and conceived a compositional project that would be the culmination of his decades of experience in sacred choral music: the Mass in B Minor.
To craft this great mass, Bach drew on his earlier compositions, including a celebratory mass dedicated to the inauguration of Augustus III as King of Poland in 1733 and mass settings composed during the 1740s. The result was a magnificent summary of Bach’s brilliance, completed around 1748.
The Mass in B Minor is structured in four sections. The first is the Missa, consisting of the Kyrie and Gloria. Opening with a formidable choral plea for mercy which leads into an architecturally complex fugue of yearning paired quavers, the Kyrie sets the tone for the majesty of the Mass. The Gloria bursts forth with joyous trumpets and cascading choral coloratura and develops into nuanced movements, including arias for soprano, alto and bass.
The second section of the Mass is the Symbolum Nicenum, the Nicene Creed, which begins with a fugal chorus based on the familiar plainchant setting of the text ‘Credo in unum deum’.
A magnificent Sanctus forms the third part of the Mass. This exultant movement for double chorus was originally performed on Christmas Day in 1724 and bears all the hallmarks of such festivity.
The final section of Bach’s Mass includes some of his most poignant music in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei, for tenor and alto soloist respectively. For the very last movement, Bach maintains the simple, dignified atmosphere of the section; he chooses not to finish with any exuberant new material, but with a stirring reprise of the Gratias agimus tibi from the first section of the Mass. Singing the words ‘Dona nobis pacem’, the vocal lines soar upwards, striving towards salvation and an eternity of peace.
Programme note by Sarah Maxted
Johann Sebastian Bach
Mass in B Minor
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis.
Laudamus te; benedicimus te; adoramus te; glorificamus te.
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.
Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe altissime.
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.
Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, Miserere nobis.
Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe.
Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
Credo in unum Deum; Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, Et ex Patre natum ante omnia sæcula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri: per quem omnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Glory be to God in the highest.
And in earth peace to men of good will.
We praise Thee; we bless Thee; we worship Thee; we glorify Thee.
We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory.
O Lord God, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.
O Lord Jesus Christ, in the highest, the only begotten Son.
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us.
For thou only art holy, thou only art the Lord,
thou only art the most high, Jesus Christ. Together with the Holy Ghost in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
I believe in one God; The Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten not made; being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation descended from heaven;
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die secundum Scripturas.
Et ascendit in coelum: sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, judicare vivos et mortuos: cujus regni non erit finis.
Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum, et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per Prophetas.
Credo in unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma, in remissionem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum et vitam venturi sæculi.
Amen.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Osanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Dona nobis pacem.
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He was crucified also for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures: and ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; and His kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who prodeedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; as it was told by the Prophets. And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
And I await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us peace.
The English Concert
Ripieno Choir
Sumei Bao-Smith
soprano
Molly Quinn soprano
Judy Louie Brown alto
Graham Neal tenor
Jon Stainsby bass
Violin I
Nadja Zwiener
Annie Gard
Violin II
Manami Mizumoto
Elizabeth MacCarthy
Viola
Alfonso Leal del Ojo
Violoncello
Jonathan Byers
Double bass
Ismael Campanero
Nieto
Flute
Katy Bircher
Rosie Bowker
The English Concert is an outstanding orchestra: exceptional, in the worldrenowned quality, ambition and variety of its live and recorded output; unique, in the zeal of its players for working and performing together; unwavering, in its desire to connect with its audience throughout the world. Founded by Trevor Pinnock in 1972 and under the present artistic direction of Harry Bicket and principal guest Kristian Bezuidenhout, The English Concert has earned a reputation for combining urgency, passion and fire with precision, delicacy and beauty.
Oboe/Oboe d’amore
Clara Espinosa
Encinas
Bethan White
Grace Scott Deuchar
Bassoon
Katrin Lazar
Sally Jackson
Horn
Ursula Paludan
Monberg
Trumpet
Mark Bennett
Stian Aareskjold
Simon Munday
Timpani
Stefan Beckett
Organ
Tom Foster
Harpsichord and organ provided and tuned by Simon Neal
Trevor Pinnock directed the ensemble for over three decades, shaping the orchestra’s distinctive sound and championing the performance of Baroque and Classical music on period instruments. The orchestra’s outstanding recording output under his leadership, which includes critically acclaimed interpretations of Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi, garnered international recognition and helped to establish The English Concert as a leading force in the early music revival. This rich musical legacy continues to inspire and inform the orchestra’s work today.
The orchestra’s regular collaborations with key artistic partners reflect and enhance the pursuit of new ways to bring music to life. Joyce DiDonato, Dame
Sarah Connolly, Iestyn Davies, Alison Balsom, and many more, have not only brought their extraordinary skills to individual projects but continue to help The English Concert to shape the way the ensemble performs.
A cornerstone of the orchestra’s annual cycle is its international Handel Opera tour. Blossoming from an ongoing relationship with Carnegie Hall established by Harry Bicket, the orchestra now regularly present operas and oratorios at the Theater an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Elbphilharmonie, and Barbican Hall, with the roster of great venues continuing to grow, particularly in East Asia and the USA. Meanwhile, a regular London series allows the ensemble to explore a different path, presenting programmes that challenge and inspire audiences closer to home.
In 2023, The English Concert launched its ambitious Handel for All project, which aims to film and make freely available all of Handel’s works online.
@EnglishConcert
@TheEnglishConcert
@englishconcert
@TheEnglishConcert
Thank you
The English Concert would like to thank all its sponsors, trusts, donors and friends for their valued support and generosity, without which tonight’s programme could not take place. We would also like to acknowledge with grateful thanks the assistance of Sue Hargreaves, Jonny Byers, Wendy Levitt and Nigel and Elizabeth Carrington for hosting our musicians during this project. We are also grateful for the special support of The English Concert in America and their individual donors for enabling our work.
If you would like to find out more about ways to support The English Concert visit englishconcert.co.uk or contact holly@englishconcert.co.uk
Artistic Director
Harry Bicket OBE
Principal Guest Director
Kristian Bezuidenhout
Founder
Trevor Pinnock CBE
Chief Executive
Alfonso Leal del Ojo
Head of Artistic Planning
Sarah Fenn
Head of Development
Holly Scrivener
Artistic Planning Manager
Lucy Roberts
Development and Events Officer
Aidan Tulloch
PR: Rebecca Driver Media Relations
Kristian Bezuidenhout director/harpsichord
Kristian Bezuidenhout has established himself as one of the most versatile and exciting musicians of our time, both as a keyboard player and conductor. Born in South Africa in 1979, he began his studies in Australia, completed them at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY), and now lives in London.
Kristian is a regular guest soloist on fortepiano, harpsichord and modern piano with the world’s leading ensembles and celebrated artists. In addition to his work as a soloist, he is increasingly in demand as a conductor, and continues explore the music of the late 17th and early 18th centuries with groups including The English Concert, Tafelmusik, Collegium Vocale, Juilliard 415, Kammerakademie Potsdam & Dunedin Consort. Kristian is Principal Guest Director of both The English Concert and Freiburger Barockorchester.
The 2024/25 season sees Kristian perform as soloist and direct a host of ensembles including Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre des ChampsÉlysées, Handel & Haydn Society, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Irish Chamber Orchestra. He performs recitals in Europe with Anne Sofie von Otter, Sol Gabetta, Isabelle Faust and Julian Prégardien.
Isabel Schicketanz
soprano
Soprano Isabel Schicketanz is known for her expressive voice and text-driven interpretation, specialising in the music of the 17th and 18th
centuries. Equally committed to intimate recitals and large-scale performances, she has collaborated with renowned conductors and orchestras across Europe and released two complete recordings: Heinrich Schütz with Hans-Christoph Rademann and Johann Kuhnau with Gregor Meyer.
Her ensemble Ælbgut, winner of the Opus Klassik award and praised by the German Record Critics’ Award, has performed at prestigious venues and festivals including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Bach Festival Leipzig, and the MDR Music Summer. In 2024, Ælbgut was the ensemble in residence at the Heinrich Schütz Music Festival.
Schicketanz’s upcoming engagements include performances of Bach cantatas with the Bachakademie Stuttgart, her debut performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Dresden, and concerts at the Thuringian Bach Weeks. Her debut album Seelentrost features music of Heinrich Schütz and his contemporaries. Her performances are documented in numerous CD and radio recordings and streams.
Marco Borggreve
Alexander Bischoff
Joanna Songi soprano
Described as ‘an impressive young talent” by Opera Journal, and praised for having “both vocal beauty and bite’ by The Observer,
Joanna Songi performed in Shakespeare’s Henry V at the Donmar Warehouse (2022) broadcast on NT Live. She regularly performs and records with the Dunedin Consort and The English Concert.
She was awarded first place in the Dean & Chadlington Singing Competition (2019), the Brooks-Van der Pump English Song Competition (2013), and was a semifinalist in the Das Lied Competition (2019), the Nadia et Lili Boulanger International Voice-Piano Competition (2019). She has performed song cycles as a soloist with the Chroma Ensemble and the United Strings of Europe, and has performed with companies including Glyndebourne, Garsington, West Green and Opera de Tenerife.
Joanna graduated studied at Cambridge University, and completed a postgraduate course at the Royal College of Music. She was a Britten-Pears Young Artist, a Making Music Philip & Dorothy Green Young Concert Artist, and an Opera Prelude Young Artist.
Lucile Richardot alto
The French mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot started singing at 11 in a children’s choir in the East of France, then many years later in Notre-Dame de Paris music school, after a few years working as a journalist.
She has performed with French ensembles such as Correspondances, Pygmalion, Le Poème Harmonique, Les Siècles, Les Arts Florissants, and as a guest soloist with the Orchestre National de France, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Het Collectief, Il Giardino Armonico, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra in Finland, Tafelmusik in Toronto, Collegium 1704 in Prague, Boston Early Music Festival, The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, with whom she made her debut at Carnegie Hall, La Fenice and Teatro alla Scala.
She took on roles in the three Monteverdi’s operas, in Vivaldi’s Arsilda, Haendel’s Rinaldo, Semele, Giulio Cesare, Il Trionfo, La Resurrezione, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Debussy’s Pelléas & Mélisande, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, and Boesmans’ Yvonne, Princesse de Bourgogne.
Jean-François
Robert
Samuel Boden
tenor
British tenor
Samuel Boden has developed an international opera and concert career with particular success in the fields of early and contemporary music. He is a highly-regarded interpreter of Monteverdi, Bach, Handel and the French baroque as well as Britten. Career highlights include creating the roles of Boy and Young King in George Benjamin’s Lessons in love and violence at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden followed by performances at the Dutch National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra de Lyon and Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona. He has performed the title roles of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Gluck’s Orphée et Euridyce for the Nederlandse Reisopera and Idamante in Campra’s Idoménée for Opéra de Lille and the Staatsoper Under den Linden, Berlin. He has sung several of the Rameau and Charpentier haute-contre parts as well as Cavalli’s L’Ormindo. A Purcell specialist, Samuel has appeared in productions of The Indian Queen at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and The Fairy Queen at Drottningholms Slottstheater. He regularly appears with Collegium Vocale Gent, Le Concert d’Astrée, Les Arts Florissants, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Wiener Akademie and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.
Florian Störtz bass
German bassbaritone Florian Störtz swept onto the European concert scene with victories at 2023 International Handel Singing Competition as well as the 2023 Helmut Deutsch Song Competition. Together with pianist Mark Rogers he also took the Prix de mélodie at the 2023 Lili et Nadia Boulanger competition in Paris and won the Young Artists Platform at the International Song Festival Zeist, Utrecht 2024.
His 2024-25 season sees débuts singing Bach and Charpentier with the Monteverdi Choir, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic. A current Rising Star of the Enlightenment, forthcoming engagements with the ensemble include a European tour of the Matthäus-passion under Jonathan Cohen. He will record his début recital disc with pianist Aleksandra Myslek for Delphian. He has given recitals in Leeds with Graham Johnson, Zell am See with Helmut Deutch, a German song programme at Carnegie Hall with Renée Fleming’s SongStudio and French song recitals at Salle Cortot, Paris and Wigmore Hall.
Florian is an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Music and the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme and recevies generous support from the City Music Foundation.
Marco Borggreve
Jakob Jurkisek