Lecture: The Portrayal of Jews and Christians in Bach’s St. John Passion
March 10 @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
This FREE event is part of an exciting collaboration between SDEMS and the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, featuring two SDEMS-sponsored public lectures that complement LJS&C’s upcoming performances of J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion.
Dr. Michael Marissen | The Portrayal of Jews and Christians in Bach’s St. John Passion
Introduction by Dr. Ruben Valenzuela, founder and artistic director, Bach Collegium San Diego.
Illustrating his talk with musical examples, Dr. Marissen will speak on the ways Bach depicts Jews and Christians and on how Bach musically heightens not only various marvelous sentiments, but also various troubling sentiments found in the New Testament and some key writings of Martin Luther.
Michael Marissen is the Daniel Underhill Professor Emeritus of Music at Swarthmore College. He is co-author, with Daniel R. Melamed, of BachCantataTexts.org, a freely available source for historically informed translations of the texts in J. S. Bach’s vocal music. He has written many essays on music and religion for general-audience venues, including the Huffington Post and The New York Times. His most recent books are Bach & God and Bach against Modernity, both available from Oxford University Press. He has also served on many panels with rabbis and ministers promoting dialogue among Jews and Christians.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Rehearsal Room. Free on-site parking.
San Diego Early Music Society
+1-619-291-8246
sdems@sdems.org