THE Chapter House Choir will give the northern premiere of Bob Chilcott’s St John Passion at York Minster’s Festival of the Passions on April 5.

Premiered at Wells Cathedral last year, Chilcott’s setting of words from the Gospel of St John provides a dramatic and optimistic 21st century retelling of the Passiontide story, complemented by meditations based on English poems from the 13th to early 17th centuries.

The Chapter House Choir will be joined by two guest soloists, tenor Christopher O’Gorman and baritone Chris Thornton-Holmes, augmented by other York choral singers for the well-known hymns that intersperse the story and are set to new, original melodies.

The 7.30pm concert also will feature Tomas Luis De Victoria’s Tenebrae Responses. “Victoria is the most significant composer of the Counter-Reformation in Spain and one of the best-regarded composers of sacred music in the late-Renaissance,” says the York choir’s musical director, Stephen Williams. “His works have undergone a revival in the 20th and 21st centuries, the intricate voice parts creating melodic phrases which express the passion of Spanish mysticism and religion.”

Looking forward to the choir singing in the Quire of the Minster, Stephen adds: “It’s a pleasure and a privilege for us to be performing these two pieces together. With almost 500 years of history between them, both have a wonderfully direct emotional appeal, which seems particularly fitting for the Festival of the Passions.”

• Tickets are on sale at £15, concessions £13.50, under 19s £5, on 01904 557208 or online at boxoffice.yorkminster.org