Bach's Markus-Passion

Director, writer, and composer Bill Barclay has created dozens of theatrical concerts with the world’s most prominent ensembles. He is Artistic Director of Concert Theatre Works and was Director of Music at Shakespeare’s Globe from 2012-2019. He last appeared with Music of the Baroque in February 2022.

Bill Barclay’s original works have been performed at hundreds of venues around the world including The Hollywood Bowl, The Kennedy Center, The Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Barbican, Washington National Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and The Southbank Centre. A “personable polymath” (London Times), his theatrical concerts are praised as “witty and incisive” (New York Times), “Effortless perfection” (The Observer), “quietly transfixing” (The New Yorker), and “quite simply exquisite” (The Guardian).

Broadway and West End credits include Farinelli and the King, Twelfth Night, and Richard III, all starring Sir Mark Rylance.

Major tours include The Chevalier (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Center, Tanglewood, Chautauqua, Music of the Baroque, Harlem Chamber Players, Caramoor, Snape Maltings, Buffalo, Virginia, Indianapolis); Secret Byrd for The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork (30+ cities on tour); Anthony & Cleopatra (LA Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony); Peer Gynt (Boston, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras); and Markus Passion for Oregon Bach Festival, Dunedin Consort & The Sebastians (NYC, Pittsburgh, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Portland, Seattle, Eugene, Chicago). He has been commissioned five times by The Boston Symphony Orchestra, appearing across nine seasons.

Other projects include directing the Silkroad Ensemble on tour, Beyond Beethoven 9 for Marin Alsop, Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream for Andris Nelsons, L’Histoire du Soldat for Charles Dutoit, Four Seasons Reimagined for Max Richter and puppeteers Gyre & Gimble, and 1791: Mozart’s Last Year for Gianandrea Noseda and The National Symphony Orchestra.

As a composer, Barclay composed the historic Hamlet Globe-to-Globe, which toured to 189 countries, and Call of the Wild, that performed in 42 US states. He has composed three times for the British Royal Family, for President Obama, for the Olympic Torch, at the United Nations, and in refugee camps in Jordan and Calais.

His newest work, Letters to a Young Poet, premiered with The Brodsky Quartet at The Aldeburgh Festival before performances at Lincoln Center and Tanglewood. He regularly appears in major international festivals in Kilkenny, Spoleto, Lammermuir, Edinburgh, Death of Classical, Chelsea, Oxford, Bath, Teatro a Mil, Perth, Canterbury, Aldebugh, and many others.

Opera directing includes The Seven Deadly Sins for The New World Center starring Danielle de Niese, Idomeneo for Boston Baroque, The Magic Flute for the BSO, and La bohéme in 2027.

Bill Barclay has been published on the music of Shakespeare by both Cambridge and Oxford University Presses, and edited The Jon Lipsky Play Anthology for Smith & Kraus. A contributor to The Guardian and Songlines, he has lectured on the Music of the Spheres on three continents.

A noted curator, Bill Barclay's concert programming as artistic director of Music Before 1800 has been praised as “one of the most creative and stimulating things happening on New York City’s classical music scene.” He created the sold-out Candlelit Concerts series from the launch of London’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2014, partnering with The Royal Opera House and BBC Proms. He founded the label Globe Music, recognized by The Royal Philharmonic Society, for Shakespeare’s Globe, where he produced music for 130 productions and 150 concerts over seven years.

His single Let Nature Sing, made of birdsong with singer Sam Lee, debuted at #11 on the UK Pop Charts to support The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Appearances on the podium include King of Ghosts on tour with Soumik Datta and City of London Sinfonia, and conducting the USACH Orchestra on tour in Chile.

Bill Barclay has collaborated with soloists Yo-Yo Ma, John Williams, Pekka Kuusisto, Ian Bostridge, Paco Peña, Camilla Tilling, Anoushka Shankar and Alison Balson, and dozens of the world’s most prominent conductors including Andris Nelsons, Marin Alsop, Dame Jane Glover, Louis Langree, Stéphane Denève, Charles Dutoit, Gianandrea Noseda, Ken-David Masur, Bramwell Tovey, JoAnn Falletta, Sakari Oramo, and Trevor Pinnock.

A lauded actor, Bill Barclay received a Fox Foundation Fellowship, the largest grant for actors in the US. A Boston native and past acting company member at Shakespeare & Company (11 years), the Actors Shakespeare Project (10 years, Artistic Associate), and The Mercury Theatre (UK), he trained in Bali, The National Theatre Institute and Vassar College. MFA in Playwriting, Boston University.

British actor Joseph Marcell’s work is commendable and highly appreciated by audiences and critics. He is well known for the role of Geoffrey Butler on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air which aired from 1990 to 1996. Born in Saint Lucia, he moved to the United Kingdom when he was nine years old. He studied theater in college and later began courses in dance and speech. His work in feature films and television began by 1974, with one of his first roles as Eros in Antony and Cleopatra. From 2003 to 2004, he played Hudson in The Bold and the Beautiful. He is also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello. He has also enjoyed a 38-year association with the Globe Theater in London, performing in productions including King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing.

Soprano Pascale Beaudin began her career on stage with the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opera de Montreal. She appears on operatic stages in Canada (Opéra de Montréal, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Opéra de Québec); in France (Angers-Nantes Opéra, Opéra de Marseille, Opéra National de Lorraine, Opéra de Metz); and the United States (Opera Lafayette) in roles such as Zerlina, Papagena, Fiordiligi, Oscar, Adèle de Formoutiers, and Nannetta. The New York Times praised her shimmering voice and girlish sassiness, while the Washington Post music critic reported that she sang the aria “Per pietà,” "with such deliberate quiet elegance and restraint that it was a highlight not just of the evening, but also of my year."

Pascale Beaudin’s incomparable diction, intelligent musicality, and expressivity make her ideal for concert and recital work. In addition to being a permanent member of the Four Nations Ensemble, she collaborates with many orchestras, namely the Orchestre Métropolitain, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Les Violons du Roy, I Musici de Montréal, the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, the McGill Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Francophonie, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Les Idées Heureuses, Montréal Baroque, the Société d’art vocal de Montréal, the Centre international de mélodie française de Tours, and the Orchestre régional de Cannes. She has been invited to perform at music festivals including the Festival de Lanaudière, the Festival d’opéra de Québec, the Montreal Bach Festival, the Festival des musiques sacrées de Marseille, and the Festival du Domaine Forget.

Pascale Beaudin is one of 6 singers featured on the critically acclaimed 5-disc release Mélodies complètes de Francis Poulenc with pianist Olivier Godin, on the Atma label. She is also featured on the world premiere recording of Les femmes vengées, an opera by Philidor, with Opera Lafayette on the Naxos label.

Proud of her Acadian heritage, Pascale Beaudin frequently performs at home, with Symphony New Brunswick and Opera New Brunswick, as well as at the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival, the Indian River Chamber Music Festival, and the Barachois Summer Music Festival.

Pascale Beaudin has received national recognition with government grants from the Canada Arts Council, the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec, and the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation.

With “a supercharged voice and a sexy, subversive stage manner” (Seen and Heard International), Cody Bowers has established himself as one of the preeminent countertenors in North America with prize titles from The Sullivan Foundation, The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, The George London Foundation for Singers, and The Rochester International Vocal Competition. In previous seasons, Cody Bowers has performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Merola Opera Program, San Diego Opera, Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Boston Early Music Festival, Opera Neo, Tanglewood Music Center, and Cantos Para Hermanar al Mundo in Torreón, Mexico.

2025-2026 performance highlights include The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas with Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, a role debut in the titular role of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto with St. Petersburg Opera, a fully staged newly completed world premiere tour of J.S. Bach's St. Markus Passion with Oregon Bach Festival, and a Carnegie Hall solo debut with Oratorio Society of New York as alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah.

Cody Bowers continues to expand a broad and contrasting dramatic repertoire that ranges from the lost and mysterious Refugee from Jonathan Dove’s Flight; Federico García Lorca, the celebrated 20th-century poet and playwright in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, who was martyred during the Spanish Civil War; Leonardo, the ghostly Greta Garbo impersonator who inspires Frida Kahlo to make peace with her troubled life in Gabriela Lena Frank’s new opera El último sueño de Frida y Diego; the brave and amorous hero Didymus in Handel's Theodora; and Orlando, the conquering hero of antiquity who’s desire to love and be loved drives him into the pits of insanity—and the underworld.

Cody Bowers is an active member of internationally celebrated ensembles like Gramophone Award-winning Blue Heron Renaissance Choir, The Handel & Haydn Society, Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, The Thirteen, Bach Society Houston, VAE: Cincinnati, Tenet Vocal Artists, and Washington Bach Consort, where he has performed numerous concert works by J. S. Bach including St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, and Mass in B Minor. Other concert credits include Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, Ralph Vaughn Williams’s Mass in G Minor, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Mozart’s Mass in D Major.

Permanently based in New England, Mr. Bowers is pursuing a Doctorate in Voice Performance at Boston University under Dr. Lynn Eustis. In his free time, he enjoys tending to his many houseplants and continuing his quest to make the perfect roast chicken.

Tenor Michael St. Peter, frequently engaged in the classical arts scene in Chicago, is known for his “…warm, beautiful and true” singing (Chicago Classical Review). A former Gerdine Young artist with Opera Theatre St. Louis, and a 2nd Prize Winner of the 2018 McCammon Voice Competition, his previous season highlights include roles with Tulsa Opera (Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni), and Chicago’s Haymarket Opera Company (The Moore/Dragon of Wantley, Acis/Acis and Galatea, Colin/L’amant anonyme, Aminta/Euridice). He last appeared as soloist with Music of the Baroque in May 2026.

Michael St. Peter's concert work as a soloist includes his 2018 Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah, with the Cecilia Chorus of New York, the Mozart Requiem with the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, Messenger/Ensemble in Handel’s Theodora, and most recently as Solo/Ensemble in Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Madison Bach Musicians. As a Chicago local, he regularly sings with professional choirs here and around the country, including Grant Park Symphony Chorus, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Apollo’s Fire, and The Thirteen. A lover of Baroque and contemporary music alike, he also sings with the William Ferris Chorale, Stare at the Sun, and CHROMA.

Bass-baritone Benjamin Schilperoort has performed solo roles at Teatro alla Scala, The Lincoln Center, the Proms, the Opéra Royal de Versailles, Opera Gent, Opéra de Compiègne, NOF (Nouvel Opéra Fribourg/Neue Oper Fribourg), Tanglewood Festival, the Paris Philharmonie, the Philharmonie de Luxembourg, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and in many other opera houses, concert halls, and festivals. The Markus-Passion on March 21 & 22 mark his debut with Music of the Baroque.

Benjamin Schilperoort’s recent operatic roles include Walther Fürst and Melchtal Guillaume Tell, the bass roles in The Fairy Queen (with William Christie, Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants), the bass roles in King Arthur, Don Basilio Barbiere di Siviglia, Golaud Pelléas et Mélisande, Colline La bohème, Masetto and Il Commendatore Don Giovanni, and Seneca L’Incoronazione di Poppea. He is also dedicated to the performance of song repertoire, and has appeared at the Palais des beaux-arts de Bruxelles, Wigmore Hall, and Leeds Lieder Festival.

In addition to his performing career, Benjamin Schilperoort also works as a stage director; his recent projects include an installation about climate change, a rarely-performed John Cage opera, The Magic Flute (co-directed), Così fan tutte, a double bill of La Voix Humaine and The Telephone, a musical about the Olympic Games, and a one-act musical about Lotte Lenya.