James MacMillan's St Luke Passion

Over the Easter weekend eleven trebles from the Schola took part in two performances of James MacMillan's St Luke Passion. Conducted by the composer, the performances were held in the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge and at the Barbican concert hall in London. The Vaughan boys sang alongside boys from Trinity Boys Choir as well as the Britten Sinfonia and the Britten Voices. 

The performance given in King's College, Cambridge on Good Friday was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. You can listen to this performance on iPlayer for the next few weeks.

Here are photos of the first rehearsal, held at the Henry Wood Hall in London on Maundy Thursday,  the performance in Kings and the performance at the Barbican. (More photos are available here).

Reviews of the concerts included:

'Equally clear were the young voices of Christ who delivered their triadic text (for the preparation of the Passover) with total confidence, producing a perfectly blended sound when later reducing to a single strand. Thorough coaching enabled them to sail through the tricky imitative writing for the ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’ sequence (Christ’s words on the Cross) and sustain a convincingly held humming tone at the work’s close – an indication, perhaps, of Christ’s continuing presence in the world today.' Classical Source

Its formidable challenges were superbly met, with London’s Trinity Boys Choir and the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School sounding serenely otherworldly The Guardian

There are wondrous moments from the children's chorus - MacMillan can have written nothing more rapt than Jesus's Daughters of Jerusalem prophecy The Times


Tweets about the concert included:

Congrats to @CVMSMusic Schola & @TrinityBoysChoi for superb performance of @jamesmacm Passion with @BrittenSinfonia tonight @BarbicanCentre
— New College Choir (@NewCollegeChoir)
Incredibly moving Passion premiere @jamesmacm @BrittenSinfonia #King's Chapel. stunning music. Bravo @CardinalVaughan @TrinityBoysChoi
— David Hill (@davidhconductor) April 4, 2015

Gloria in excelsis Deo @jamesmacm Luke Passion 19.30 @cvmsmusic @trinityboyschoi @kings_cambridge @BrittenSinfonia pic.twitter.com/Kcj4jYOSDk
— BBC Radio 3 (@BBCRadio3) April 3, 2015

@CVMSMusic Many thanks. It was a great evening and an exciting performance. Looking forward to @BarbicanCentre w @BrittenSinfonia on Sunday
— Paul Archibald (@PaulArchibald) April 3, 2015

London premiere of @jamesmacm's St Luke Passion with @BrittenSinfonia this evening @BarbicanCentre. That's your Easter Sunday sorted!
— Boosey & Hawkes (@Boosey_London) April 5, 2015

St Luke Passion conducted @jamesmacm yesterday to acclaim @ConcertsatKings @BrittenSinfonia tomorrow @BarbicanCentre pic.twitter.com/heaaWjTraC
— Francis Brett (@francisbrett) April 4, 2015

-> With @jamesmacm conducting his Passion at @ConcertsatKings, the uproar of a Bach chorale battling chaos concluded in profound stillness
— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 4, 2015

@TrinityBoysChoi @jamesmacm @BrittenSinfonia @CardinalVaughan Congratulations on your fine performance.
— Stephen Cleobury (@SJCleobury) April 4, 2015

Stunning performance of St Luke Passion @jamesmacm @ConcertsatKings drew us into its heart of still intensity while blowing the roof off
— Donald Macleod (@DonaldMacleod01) April 3, 2015