Sunday 02 July | 5 p.m. | Castle Church Wittenberg

Staged liturgical performance in cooperation with the Wittenberg Center for Worship and Sermon Culture

The Castle Church Community, together with the Center for Worship and Sermon Culture Wittenberg, invite you to the scenic-liturgical performance of the St. Mark Passion for choir, organ and soloists by Jan Bender (1909-1994) on Sunday, July 2nd at 5 p.m., in the Castle Church. In the approximately one-hour work, the biblical text of the Passion story according to Mark is reproduced. The soloists take on specific roles such as the evangelist (tenor: Christoph Burmester), Jesus (baritone: Maik Gruchenberg) or the high priest (baritone: Markus Schicketanz). The choir gives its voice to "the people" in partly sensitive or also excited choral movements.

As part of the scenic-liturgical arrangement, the choir and soloists do not act in one place as in a concert, but also scenically in the room. At the upcoming performance, visitors are also invited to become part of the scenic setup and to sing along to selected songs with the accompaniment of the choir and the large organ.

The church musician and composer Jan Bender worked for a long time in the USA, including in Wittenberg's sister city of Springfield, Ohio, at Wittenberg University. Bender's music is characterized as harmoniously modern, expressive close to the text, but not too emotional.

The performers are the Schola Cantorum Adam Rener with soloists. Thomas Herzer and Christoph Hagemann play the two organs in the Castle Church. Dietrich Sagert, consultant at the Center for Worship and Preaching Culture, is responsible for the scenic and liturgical implementation. The overall musical direction is in the hands of the castle church cantor Sarah Herzer.

Admission is free, but a donation is requested at the exit.