English Touring Opera’s lavish production of JS Bach’s St John Passion arrives at a unique setting in the county this week.

The performance at Rochester Cathedral will be the first of 10 across the country, aiming to re-connect people with opera, on a pay what you want basis.

For the tour, ETO has joined forces with local cathedral, community and gospel choirs around the country for the semi-staged performance.

The evening will involve composition translations by 12 writers, all from different faiths, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

Other contributors include a Buddhist monk and British journalist, writer and broadcaster John McCarthy, whose passage contrasts love and freedom with prison and captivity.

At each concert, the translations will be sung by a chorus made up of three different choirs – a children’s choir, a gospel choir and an English choral tradition choir. Appearing with the ETO soloists this weekend will be the Rochester Cathedral Choir, Seventy Chamber Choir from Thanet and the Holland Boys Choir from the Netherlands.

Also coming along will be the Old Street Band, the ETO’s professional band.

MUSICAL MASTERPIECE

Deeply personal, inspiring and questioning in equal parts, Bach’s St John Passion is a musical masterpeice. On this new tour, ETO will be collaborating with more than 30 choirs around the country and collaborating with writers of different faiths and backgrounds.

“We are excited to be working with such a diversity of personalities, and are hoping they’ll give a modern resonance to the St John Passion, reflecting the society we live in,” said James Conway, ETO’s general director.

“This project is about a diverse group of artists, talking to a diverse audience. This is ETO at its grassroots: building bridges between communities as far and wide in the country as we possibly can. In its basic form, opera is not an elitist artform from the past but something that can reach everyday people and have relevance to today’s pressing world issues.”

DETAILS

English Touring Opera will be performing at Rochester Cathedral on Sunday, October 16 at 7.30pm.

Free tickets must be booked in advance at englishtouringopera.org.uk, however the audience are invited to pay what they feel the concert is worth after the show.