In May 2009, British composer Jonathan Harvey will turn 70 years old.  In the spirit of this occasion, many celebrations will take place across Europe between May 2009 and May 2010.  One of the main events will be at Austria’s annual Carinthischer Sommer Festival 2009, Ossiach in July and August, where a special run of seven performances of Harvey’s medieval Benedictine church drama ‘Passion and Resurrection’ has been programmed.  The 90-minute long opera’s original libretto by Michael Wadsworth is translated into German by critic Petra Haiderer and composer Thomas Daniel Schlee specially for these performances. The Austrian premiere will be performed by the Arnold Schönberg Choir and the Camerata Salzburg, conducted by Erwin Ortner. Vocal soloists include Günter Haumer (as Jesus); Alexander Kaimbacher (as Pilatus); Elena Copons (as Maria Magdalena) plus soloists from the Arnold Schönberg Choir.

Composed in 1981, ‘Passion and Resurrection’ was Harvey’s first foray into chamber opera and is regarded by some as one of his early masterpieces. 

Harvey describes the work:

‘Reviving the practice of the beginning of Western drama, the two medieval Benedictine Latin church dramas I have used arise out of a liturgical event, in this case the Eucharist, with which the work begins and ends.  “Do this in remembrance of me”.  The audience or congregation may participate in the singing of the plainsong hymns, Sing My Soul, and The Royal Banners, upon which the musical fabric is based, thus emphasising the ritualistic rather than the conventionally operatic nature of the work.

The eleven initial scenes move directly forward in austere, chant-like style: each character is accompanied by a musical halo more or less bright according to his sanctity.  Instrumental interludes separate the scenes.  Before the twelfth scene, which is concerned with the resurrection, the interlude idea becomes magnified to symphonic proportions as the crucifixion itself is acted out.  The final, resurrection scene represents a musical blossoming of the previous style, where the inevitable and dire procession of events leading up to the crucifixion were depicted.  Austere, dark, male-dominated music there, florid, bright, female-dominated music here.  The instrumentation also reflects this division, with tuba, two trombones and two double basses (amongst others) on the one side, and trumpet, seven solo violins and viola on the other.’