The extraordinary choral program for the Passion includes Renaissance works by the great Italian master of church music Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) with a setting of the Song of Sorrows of the Mother Mary "Stabat mater dolorosa" (The Mother stood in pain) and by the important English composer William Byrd (1543-1623) with a setting of the 51st Psalm "Miserere mei Deus" (God, be merciful to me). William Byrd worked with Thomas Tallis as organist of the Royal Chapel in London and is also considered an important master of vocal polyphony.
After the Kurt-Thomas-Kammerchor repeatedly gave successful concerts at Bach's famous place of work, the Thomaskirche Leipzig, last October, the motet "Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf" (BWV 226) by the grand master of the Baroque Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) will now be performed.
