In this bold, contemporary staging of Bach’s St John Passion, the story of life, death and resurrection – of a person persecuted for their beliefs, crushed by authority and ultimately transformed through resilience and hope – is made even more urgently familiar, and given extra immediacy and clarity, by being sung in English.

Combined with the artistry of the Britten Sinfonia and an international cast of young international soloists from William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants and Le Jardin des Voix, the magnificent Brighton Festival Chorus and Youth Choir will sing from memory while moving through the space so as to dissolve boundaries between performers and audience. Community choirs and audience members will also be able to join in the chorales, and there will be an opportunity to attend a preparatory workshop so as to open up the music to everyone. With hundreds of people performing together, the result will be a moving and collective act of storytelling through music.

Directed by James Morgan, this will be a vibrant, fearless and modern retelling of Bach’s transformational story – a story that still resonates today across faiths, cultures and communities, encouraging us to meditate upon timeless themes of justice, compassion and redemption.