Music

Passio

Chamber orchestra or large ensemble, Choral music, Collaborations

For voices, brass, woodwind and percussion

The first performance of Passio was given by The Tudor Consort conducted by Alistair Carey and the Royal Air Force Band conducted by Owen Clarke, on 2 June 2006 at the Great Hall, Massey University, Wellington. The soloists were Alistair Carey (Evangelist), Brian Hesketh (Christus) and Madeleine Pierard (Spiritus).

About the work

Conceived by composer and close friend Jack Body, Passio is a re-contextualised version of Richard Davy’s (c.1465-1538) Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christe.

Jack invited composers associated with the New Zealand School of Music — David Farquhar, Ross Harris, Michael Norris, Lissa Meridan and me — to work on a movement of the work each. My contribution was the Gethsemane narrative.

The premiere was memorable as the audience was encouraged to walk around the performance area during the performance which took place in the large and resonant Great Hall at Massey University. The work was reconstructed for the 2017 Auckland Festival.

Recordings

There is an audio recording of the first performance, and a video of a performance at the Auckland Festival in 2017.

Passio — audio

Passio — video

Reviews

William Dart  and Alex Taylor wrote reviews of the Auckland Festival performance.

Stroll through Passio — New Zealand Herald

What would Jack do? A review of Passio — The Pantograph Punch

Interview

Carla van Zon, Director of the Auckland Festival, and I were interviewed when the Auckland Festival performance was in preparation.

In pursuit of Passio — interview