Monumental Bach’s "Passion for John" will sound today in the program of the Trans-Siberian Art Festival

On 31st of March, Johann Sebastian Bach's "Passion for John" will be performed on the stage of Arnold Kats State Concert Hall. A story about the latest events of Christ's earthly life will be sounded by Ilia Korol, an expert in authentic performance. The international team of singers will take part in the performance. The concert will be held within the framework of Vadim Repin’s Trans-Siberian Art Festival.

On 31^st of March one of the masterpieces of Johann Sebastian Bach – "Passion for John" – will sound in the Philharmonic. The monumental vocal-instrumental canvas recreates the events of the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ: the betrayal of Judas, the Last Supper, Peter's abdication, the Pilate's judgment, the crucifixion.

The performance of "Passion" in Novosibirsk will be conducted by Ilia Korol - a violinist, conductor, world-class specialist in the field of ancient music and authentic performance. He seeks to recreate the true sound of music, characteristic of the time when it was written. In the case of the "Passion" it's the middle of the 18th century.

The performance of such a vocal-symphonic composition will take place at the Trans-Siberian Art Festival for the first time in its history.

"We consciously chose to perform “Passion for John”, because they are more compact compared to, for example, "Passion for Matthew" – both by the number of performers and by the duration of the sound," said Ilia Korol, conductor and project manager, - Thus, "Passion" are more intact, Bach put in them a lot of work, processed for many years. Therefore, this music makes especially high demands on the quality, awareness and emotions of the performer".

The conductor highly appreciated the work with Novosibirsk collectives - the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and Novosibirsk Choir Chapel: "I am very happy and surprised at how quickly we came to understanding, now I can tell about symbols and rhetorical figures at rehearsals, work with meanings. No matter how much you play this music, you still find out and see something new in it, - the conductor said. - This is a wonderful motivation for me and for musicians. After rehearsals, we discuss what we are doing. And you can feel non-indifference, curiosity about music. And this is right, it should be so, that's why we really became musicians. Such moments always rejuvenate, you feel like a child with eyes wide open to the world. And old music is a way of life in a way. It fills you with purity and love, so you want to always be around".

 "Passions" will be performed in Novosibirsk by Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and Novosibirsk Choir Chapel. Solo parts will be performed by an international team of singers who specialize in German church music: Marie-Sophie Pollack, soprano (Germany), Matthias Rexroth, countertenor (Germany), Jan Petryka, tenor (Poland), Klemens Sander, baritone (Austria), Yasushi Hirano, bass (Japan).

Trans-Siberian Art Festival is held in Novosibirsk from 15^th of March to 3^rd of April. The artistic director of the forum is the star of world classical music, native Novosibirsk citizen, violinist Vadim Repin. The program and online purchase of the tickets is available at Philharmonic official website. This year prices of tickets for the festival are set almost twice lower than the prices of the previous festival.

The Festival is supported by: official sponsor of Trans-Siberian Art Festival Joint Stock Company "Russian Railways" (JSCo "RZD"), Sponsor of Trans-Siberian Art Festival SIBUR Holding, general partner of Philharmonic – VTB24 and partner of the Philharmonic Public Company Moscow Exchange.