St. John Passion - New version for percussion ensemble

J.S. Bach's St. John Passion was first performed on Good Friday 1724. Just one year later, Bach performed a heavily revised version on Good Friday 1725, followed by two further versions in 1732 and 1749.
What prompted the composer to make these revisions is not documented. In any case, there is no definitive authorized version. Today - 301 years later - the St. John Passion is one of the central works of choral literature. With our performance, we want to join this tradition and at the same time focus on the aspect of the work in progress by performing it in a version for choir, soloists and mallet instruments (marimba, vibraphone and xylophone).
This specially arranged version gives the work a completely new sound and focuses on the incredible motor skills of Bach's music.
The project is a collaboration with Kaiserstuhl Percussion and deliberately aims to appeal to young listeners.
At the same time, this project with its span between tradition and renewal represents the first part of the choir's anniversary (50 years of DFC Freiburg) and can certainly be seen as programmatic in the sense of the choir's biography.
Instrumentation: choir,
percussion ensemble (3 marimbas, 2 vibraphones, 1 xylophone),
basso continuo (organ, cello),
5 soloists
The choir is conducted by our choirmaster Moritz Herzog.