Ampleforth Abbey’s Heads of Schola, Peter Dunn and Katherine Wren, have been rehearsing hard for tomorrow’s performance of the St Matthew Passion.

The work is a sacred oratorio from the passions written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727. Ampleforth has a very proud musical heritage which comes primarily from its roots as one of the world’s leading Benedictine educational institutions.

Ampleforth’s director of music, Ian Little, said: “Bach’s St Matthew Passion is probably the greatest work of them all. This is a long, difficult piece of music and the forces required (two orchestras, two choirs, an additional treble choir, six soloists and a host of minor solo roles) make it an ambitious challenge for students, but one they have shown they are more than capable of meeting.”