The ICE Classic cycle makes a welcome return to the Krzysztof Penderecki Auditorium Hall at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre for the first time in 2024. Right before the start of the Misteria Paschalia Festival, the Kraków audience will hear a Baroque masterpiece: Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion interpreted by Jordi Savall, one of the leading figures in the reappraisal of historical music, and his two ensembles: La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion, as interpreted by Jordi Savall, offers an extraordinary musical and spiritual experience, which allows the listeners to explore and experience Lent in an even more profound manner. This dramatic piece was first performed on the Good Friday of 1724 at the Church of St Nicholas in Leipzig. Now, 300 years after this event, we can once again experience the ingenuity and virtuosity of the famous composer while exploring the story that to this day constitutes the cornerstone of our culture.
The Baroque masterpiece will be performed by Jordi Savall, leading two extraordinary ensembles – La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. The Gospel of St John which underlines the divine nature of Jesus Christ and His transcendence resounds in Bach’s composition, which portrays Christ not as a sacrificial lamb, but as the fearless Lord and King of All, who is heading to vanquish death itself – the text and the sounds of the score highlight this in a profound way.
The tradition of reading and performing Passion works during the Holy Week takes on a new dimension, when it is experienced at the highest level of virtuosity, embodied by Savall and his ensembles. St John Passion tells the story of the final moments of Christ’s life with the tenor part Evangelist, who guides listeners through this musical masterpiece and profoundly symbolic event by quoting the passages of the Gospel. Johann Sebastian Bach also enriched the Gospel narrative with Passion poetry by Barthold Heinrich Brockes, Christian Heinrich Postel and Christian Weise, as well as the texts of traditional religious songs, and in doing so he crafted a mystical and deeply moving story of the Passion, but most importantly an account of Christ's triumph over sin and death.
La Capella Reial de Catalunya
Le Concert des Nations
Jordi Savall conductor
Johann Sebastian Bach St John Passion BWV 245
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ICE Classic is a unique series of classical music concerts, which induced Kraków to the group of important music stages in Europe. All concerts of the ICE Classic series are held in the Krzysztof Penderecki Hall at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre. Thanks to the concert space offered by the ICE Kraków Congress Centre, the capital of the Małopolska region has at its disposal a concert venue accommodating nearly 2,000 people, with excellent technical facilities and high acoustic performance.
The ICE Classic brand is consistently built upon the performances of the greatest stars of classical music. Krakow has already hosted some of the most outstanding opera soloists of our times: Aleksandra Kurzak, Edita Gruberová, Diana Damrau, Elīna Garanča and Philippe Jaroussky, exquisite instrumentalists: Anne-Sophie Mutter, Isabelle Faust, Ivo Pogorelić and Piotr Anderszewski, the outstanding conductor Kent Nagano with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Sir Simon Rattle with the London Symphony Orchestra, Philippe Herreweghe with Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and the extraordinary composer Max Richter.
