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Tenor Nicholas Mulroy directs a one-voice-to-a-part account of Bach's St Matthew Passion, featuring some splendid singing. 

The decision to appoint the Early Opera Company and Scanner as this year’s associate artists says much about Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, an eclectic cornucopia of classical and non-classical music concerts by professional and amateur artists, bespoke tours, and family activities.

Any venue, cathedral or concert hall, that advertises a Good Friday performance of J.S. Bach’s epic St Matthew Passion is likely to sell out; even Birmingham’s vast Symphony Hall is no exception, today being full to bursting with eager parishioners making their annual pilgrimage to wallow in Bach’s all-consuming musical ministry.

"Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie leben im Leipzig des 18. Jahrhunderts," entführt Dirigent Haselböck sein Publikum in die Welt von überirdisch strahlenden Klängen der Geigen, Pauken und Trompeten und des jubelnden Chors - die Welt von Bachs Kantaten.