Iván Fischer & Budapest Festival Orchestra: Compassion

Budapest Festival Orchestra

Fischer leads, among others, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Cantemus Mixed Choir. Violinist Janine Jansen gives a short guest performance as part of her festival around the music of Bach.

New passion

In this new passion, the storyline of the St. Matthew Passion is interrupted to make the suffering of others audible and tangible. You will hear Bach's famous music, but also a slave song and traditional Jewish and Arabic music. Texts from the play Die Ermittlung by Peter Weiss are also heard.

Compassion

Iván Fischer says: 'For me, “Mitleid”, compassion, is the central subject of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. By witnessing the suffering of Christ, listeners feel compassion that they share with each other, which connects them. We want to translate Christ's suffering into general suffering. We want to reflect on the gross injustice that some countries or ethnic groups still experience today.'