In advance of its upcoming performances of Bach’s Passion According to St. John, the Winston-Salem Symphony in North Carolina will present a free interdisciplinary symposium exploring the work’s controversial aspects. The St. John Passion contains direct quotations from chapters 18 and 19 of the Gospel of John in the Lutheran Bible, and can be read as shifting the blame for Christ’s death from the Romans to the Jews. The symposium, co-sponsored by Wake Forest University (WFU), will take place on November 15 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Wake Forest’s Brendle Recital Hall; panelists, drawn from several educational and religious organizations, will include Winston-Salem Symphony Music Director Robert Moody and faculty from Wake Forest University, Swarthmore College, and Hebrew Union College. The symposium is sponsored by the WFU School of Divinity, WFU Humanities Initiative, WFU Office of the Chaplain, WFU Department of Music, WFU Interdisciplinary PLACE, Winston-Salem Symphony, and Rabbi Mark Strauss-Cohn. For more information visit the Winston-Salem Symphony website.
Posted November 14, 2011
