Bach's St Matthew Passion is not just a tradition, but a story that demands to be told anew each year. In this performance, Jan Willem de Vriend lays bare the human emotions in the music: doubt, anger, sorrow, but also compassion. With a distinguished ensemble of soloists and two choirs providing moments of stillness alternated with explosive redemption, the final days of Jesus Christ are experienced as an intense, living drama.

Bach composed the St Matthew Passion as a dialogue on every level: between choir and aria, evangelist and Christ, reason and emotion. It is a story of betrayal and loss, but also of a community trying to make sense of what is happening. De Vriend highlights this layered quality – at times whisper-quiet, at others sharp and urgently present. With Nick Pritchard as an alert evangelist, Andreas Wolf as a warm and dignified Christ, and the Netherlands Chamber Choir alongside the Haags Matrozenkoor choir, this becomes a performance that brings the great story close to the audience – not only as a monument, but as a profoundly human document.