BACH IN THE CITY To Present Midwest Premiere Of Malcolm Bruno’s Reconstruction Of Bach’s St. Mark Passion
One-night-only performance March 20 at St. Vincent de Paul Church will feature newly composed recitatives and turba choruses by Music Director Richard Webster.
Chicago’s Bach in the City will conclude its debut concert season with the Midwest premiere of British musicologist Malcolm Bruno’s 2019 reconstruction of Johann Sebastian Bach’s lost St. Mark Passion, BWV 247, at 7:30 p.m. March 20, 2026, at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 1010 W. Webster Ave., the organization’s home venue.
Founding Music Director Richard Webster will conduct the 40-member Bach in the City Chorus and an 18-piece period-instrument orchestra. Soloists are soprano Hannah De Priest, countertenor Ryan Belongie, tenor Oliver Camacho, and bass David McFerrin.
Webster said the organization’s research suggests the performance may mark the first Chicago presentation of Bach’s St. Mark Passion in more than four decades. For this concert, Webster composed music for the Passion’s recitatives and turba choruses, which are not included in Bruno’s reconstruction. “To compose music for the Passion narrative, as it is written in the Gospel of Mark, has been both challenging and humbling,” Webster said. “I have done my absolute best to honor the legacy and style of J. S. Bach.” He credited harpsichordist Jason Moy, the ensemble’s associate music director, with providing editorial assistance.
A Reconstruction of a Lost Work
Bach’s St. Mark Passion, first performed in 1731, survives only in its libretto. Scholars have long attempted reconstructions using existing Bach works that fit the text, reflecting the Baroque practice of parody, in which composers reworked earlier music for new contexts.
Bruno’s version draws on Bach’s Trauer-Ode, BWV 198, along with movements from other cantatas. The reconstruction features flutes, oboes d’amore, violas da gamba, and strings. Following its 2025 U.S. premiere in Pittsburgh, the work was presented in New York, Portland and Eugene, Oregon, and Seattle. Webster attended the New York performance and described it as “beguiling, compelling, and very effective.”
Unlike the recent touring production, which used a spoken Evangelist and chamber ensemble, Bach in the City will present the work with full chorus and orchestra. The role of the Evangelist will be shared among the four soloists.
Soloists
Soprano Hannah De Priest performs regularly with Haymarket Opera, Ars Musica Chicago, and Music of the Baroque. Countertenor Ryan Belongie has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. Tenor Oliver Camacho, a graduate of Northwestern University, has been praised by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Classical Review and serves as Music Director of Classical WFMT. Bass David McFerrin has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, and Santa Fe Opera, and is a member of the Renaissance ensemble Blue Heron.
About Bach in the City
Founded in 2024, Bach in the City is a nonprofit organization based at St. Vincent de Paul Church. The ensemble presents choral, orchestral, and chamber works by Bach and his contemporaries, building on the legacy of the former Bach Week Festival in Evanston. The organization launched its inaugural season following the success of its 2025 pilot concert, “Bach and the Venetians.”
The March 20 performance is presented as a one-night-only event.
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