Masaaki Suzuki and Monteverdi ensembles mark St Matthew Passion’s 300th anniversary with international tour

The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists will perform Bach’s work in London and on an eight-concert US tour culminating at Carnegie Hall in February 2027.

Masaaki Suzuki will conduct the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in performances of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in February 2027, marking 300 years since the work’s first performance on Good Friday in 1727.

The project opens at London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields on 9 February, followed by an eight-concert US tour from 13 to 23 February. The American performances begin in Athens, Georgia, and conclude at New York’s Carnegie Hall, with stops in Carmel, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Kansas City, Ann Arbor and Berkeley.

Tenor Nick Pritchard will sing the Evangelist, with bass-baritone Florian Störtz as Christus. The soloists also include sopranos Carolyn Sampson and Jone Martínez, countertenors Alexander Chance and Matthias Dähling, tenor Hugo Hymas and bass-baritone Timothy Edlin.

Suzuki, who founded Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, made his debut with the Monteverdi ensembles in 2025. The anniversary project continues that collaboration, bringing together musicians whose work has helped shape the performance of Bach’s choral music.

“There is something electrifying about making music with an ensemble whose DNA is so closely entwined with Bach’s,” Suzuki said in the announcement.

A new artistic chapter

The tour forms part of the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras’ evolving artistic model following its separation from founder John Eliot Gardiner in 2024. The organisation is developing close, long-term partnerships with a group of specialist conductors, each focusing on a distinct area of repertoire, with Suzuki leading its exploration of Bach.

Other collaborations include Weber’s Oberon with Mark Elder, Handel’s Theodora with Christophe Rousset and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with Jakob Lehmann.

MCO director Rosa Solinas said the organisation remained committed to combining scholarship and musicianship, describing the opportunity to perform the St Matthew Passion with Suzuki as “a real privilege”.

London concert and US tour

All performances take place in February 2027:

• 9 February: St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
• 13 February: University of Georgia Performing Arts Center, Athens, Georgia
• 14 February: Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel, Indiana
• 16 February: Center for the Performing Arts, Pennsylvania State University
• 17 February: McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, New Jersey
• 18 February: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, Missouri
• 20 February: Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• 21 February: Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, California
• 23 February: Carnegie Hall, New York