Performance: J. S. Bach, St. John Passion

Music for Awhile, All Saints’ Alton Priors  

Directors: Nicholas Mulroy, Margaret Faultless, Bettina Varwig 

A unique performance of J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion that invited a profound sense of physical and emotional freedom and connection among its participants. Performed in the round, in the ancient spiritual aura of All Saints’ Church, Alton Priors, the event brought out the affective intensity of Bach’s music and its dramatic narrative to the full.

Performers were able to inhabit the music intuitively with their bodies, to move when they felt moved, to communicate naturally and honestly with each other. Listeners became immersed in scenes of staggering candour and intimacy. They found themselves right up close to individual musicians, feeling a singer’s breath on their skin and the vibrations of a low bass note through their feet. At the height of an exceptionally hot English summer, with dazzling evening light pouring in through the open portal of the medieval church, voices, sweat and tears flowed abundantly – a powerful reminder that we are all made of flesh and blood; that we are ensouled bodies that pulsate and resonate.

For those precious two hours, we were porous body-souls, permeated by waves of sound and affect that spread contagiously amongst all present. We emerged lost for words, transfixed and transformed. Painfully cathartic and joyously affirmative, this performance plumbed the depths of what we might be able to feel individually and collectively. It revealed, gloriously, the shared humanity that binds us together against all the odds.

Selected participant feedback:

This was a transformative experience. It was more visceral, emotional, spiritual and physical, as well as aural and cerebral, than anything I’ve experienced before.

The music, the closeness, the atmosphere, singers sitting alongside, one really felt involved—in the middle of it all.

I hung on every word and every note. The intensity was almost disconcerting.

All of the musicians were coming together as complete equals. The effect for the audience is extraordinary. The experience was magical. 

It was a very multisensory experience, it wasn’t just the airwaves, the sound itself, also the vibrations from the floor, I could hear it through the soles of my feet, and when one of the singers was near me, the vibrations of the paper itself … feeling that was just something really unique. … there is a lot of truth in that way of experiencing music … some of the moments just destroy you.

The instruction to engage with the audience, in the audience we all felt it, it was … the eye contact … I’ve never experienced anything like it. 

The movement was a great way to break the barrier that is so often present, that fourth wall … when the musicians are at the front of the audience, there is that invisible barrier, it is always an us and them relationship, whereas when I have for instance the bassoonist come sit next to me, you think “oh, wow, we really are part of everything”.

What an amazing experience that was and thank you for enabling us all to feel so much part of the music. The final motet was altogether overwhelming for me - I had to go away and weep in the churchyard.

It almost became a new piece when [you are] entirely immersed in it. In that small space, we really did feel part of it and it was very moving. 

This event was a transformative experience. It was more visceral, emotional, spiritual and physical as well as aural and cerebral, than anything I’ve experienced before either as an audience member or as a performer … the intimacy of the setting, the freedom with which performers moved and interacted with each other and with the audience, and for us to not only be involved in singing the chorales … but invited to be “singing” in our heads, or even under our breath, all contributed to its effect and affect. Thank you all for a totally absorbing and glorious experience.

The St John Passion music … almost became a new piece when entirely immersed in it. In that small space, we really did feel part of it and it was very moving. It was good of you to allow us amateurs to join in with the chorales – we would have had difficulty keeping quiet. Many many thanks for a wonderful, unforgettable evening.

What we did on Sunday was elevate an ordinary period of two-hours into something truly extraordinary – and none of us who were present will ever forget it; the experience has already indelibly inscribed itself into the minds of bodies of performers and listeners alike. In an age of constant digital distraction, of endless content and consumption, of restless minds: the ability to share something profoundly human like that is no small thing. The heat, the shared moisture and breath, the glorious moments of flow, of connection, the moments of overwhelm, of sensory overload, even fear and risk: the important process of simply being there together to make music, to look for something beyond the everyday, to spark change in the minds and hearts of everyone present. 

That was one of the most extraordinary … [I’m] completely sort of wrung out, moved … I could sit through it all over again … that was one of the most wonderful things I have ever witnessed.

This project would not have been possible without support from The Cecil King Memorial Foundation, an anonymous Trust, Music for Awhile, The Royal Academy of Music, Continuo Foundation, the Faculty of Music and School of Arts and Humanities (University of Cambridge), the Churches Conservation Trust and The OAE Experience Scheme. We are deeply grateful for their support.