On tour: Klaus Mäkelä conducts the St Matthew Passion

Bach's immortal masterpiece in Baden-Baden

Klaus Mäkelä - photo: Milagro Elstak

A new chapter in the Concertgebouw Orchestra's great Passion tradition: Klaus Mäkelä conducts Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden.

Bach composed the Passion in such an emotional and compelling way that it leaves few listeners unmoved.

Concert programme

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    St Matthew Passion, BWV 244

Performers

  • Klaus Mäkelä

    chief conductor designate

  • Maximilian Schmitt

    tenor (Evangelist)

  • Matthew Brook

    bass (Christ)

  • Ying Fang

    soprano

  • Tim Mead

    countertenor

  • Laurence Kilsby

    tenor

  • Krešimir Stražanac

    bass (Christ)

  • Nederlands Kamerkoor

    choir

  • Netherlands National Children's Choir

    choir

About this concert

From 2026, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will be a partner of the Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden for three years. The orchestra and its future chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä will be performing there every year during Easter week.

The Concertgebouw Orchestra’s annual Passion performance is one of the longest-running concert traditions in the world. In 1899, the orchestra’s then chief conductor Willem Mengelberg introduced the annual performance of Bach’s powerful St Matthew Passion around Easter. In the Netherlands, Bach’s St Matthew Passion has topped the favourites lists of classical music lovers for decades. Johann Sebastian Bach composed the Passion nearly 300 years ago in such an emotional and compelling way that it leaves few listeners unmoved.

Dates and tickets

About this concert

From 2026, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will be a partner of the Osterfestspiele Baden-Baden for three years. The orchestra and its future chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä will be performing there every year during Easter week.

The Concertgebouw Orchestra’s annual Passion performance is one of the longest-running concert traditions in the world. In 1899, the orchestra’s then chief conductor Willem Mengelberg introduced the annual performance of Bach’s powerful St Matthew Passion around Easter. In the Netherlands, Bach’s St Matthew Passion has topped the favourites lists of classical music lovers for decades. Johann Sebastian Bach composed the Passion nearly 300 years ago in such an emotional and compelling way that it leaves few listeners unmoved.

A preview