Proms 2024 Prom 40: Bach’s St John Passion

Nobody does Bach quite like the Bach Collegium Japan. The ensemble makes a welcome return to the Proms for the composer’s concentrated depiction of Christ’s arrest, rendition and execution – the St John Passion. Probing, unsettling, dramatic and beautiful, Bach’s work is known as much for its optimism as for its turbulence, its final bars appearing to invite all of us to imagine a brighter future. Specialist soloists led by Benjamin Bruns, Christian Immler and Carolyn Sampson join Masaaki Suzuki and his ensemble for a performance of Bach’s masterpiece marking three centuries since it was written.

There will be one interval

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Carolyn Sampson © Marco Borggreve