Sunday 29 March at 6 pm: The St Luke Passion, Västerås Cathedral
A musical drama by Rolf Martinsson

Palm Sunday at Västerås Cathedral traditionally centres on a Passion – a musical drama in which a choir, orchestra and soloists bring to life the story of Jesus’ suffering and death. This year, we will encounter the story through the Gospel of Luke, in a work that combines contemporary expression with Baroque roots: the St Luke Passion by the Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson.

Martinsson himself describes the creation of the work as a journey through music history. With the Baroque ‘in his blood’ from his years as a chorister in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, he was given the opportunity here to reconnect with a musical language he had long carried with him. He wanted to write a Passion that breathes tradition but is smaller in scale and more accessible to choirs and instrumentalists – whilst allowing the solo parts to carry great dramatic weight.

The work is based on the Gospel text from Luke but is expanded through newly written poetic reflections by Göran Greider. These modern texts are woven into the biblical narrative and open a dialogue between the past and the present – precisely the encounter that inspired Martinsson to blend the Baroque with musical excursions into our own time. The result is a Passion in which traditions intersect, complement and reflect one another.

Since its premiere, the St Luke Passion has become a significant work within Swedish church music, reaching a wide audience across the country.

.Västerås Cathedral Motet Choir
Karin Blom, soprano, narrator
Staffan Liljas, baritone, Jesus
Stockholm Concert Orchestra Instrumental ensemble with flute, oboe, cello, double bass and percussion
Henrik Alinder, organ
Archbishop Emeritus Anders Wejryd, narrator
Benjamin Åberg, conductor

Concert duration ≈ 1 hour and 30 minutes
Buy tickets via nortic.se from 4 February. You can also buy tickets at the cathedral on Saturdays 28 February and 28 March between 11.00 and 13.15. If seats are still available, you can buy tickets at the entrance from 90 minutes before the concert.