St. John’s to present Stainer’s ‘The Crucifixion’

Celebrate the Easter season this Sunday, March 30, with the acclaimed St. John’s Episcopal choir when it performs John Stainer’s “The Crucifixion.” The concert begins at 3 p.m. in the St. John’s sanctuary, 848 Harter Road. The concert is free and open to the public. The concert will last about one hour and feature the St. John’s Cantate Deo choir and organist Benjamin Kolodziej. John Stainer was one of the most distinguished British musicians of his generation. In 1872, he was appointed organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral. He composed “The Crucifixion” in 1886-87 and it was first performed in St. Marylebone Parish Church on Good Friday 1887. “The Crucifixion” was intended to be accessible, and full of the zeal and emotion of the reforming High Church. Stainer’s meditation on the Passion was immediately taken up in both Britain and America, and is as popular today as ever. — Andy Morgan