Joseph Marcell as narrator on Markus Passion at OBF 2025. Photo by Athena Delene.

EUGENE – J.S. Bach’s Markus Passion is not nearly as well-known as his often-presented John and Matthew passions. The little-known “pocket passion” was lost in the mid-18th century after Bach’s death and then found, in part, a century later.

Malcolm Bruno, a Welsh early-music specialist, reconstructed it in this century, and saw, as he said, a “possibility of a dramatic production, hearkening back to the earliest of Lutheran traditions with the Biblical text spoken.” In his program notes, Bruno wrote that as well as lots on the evolution of the passion, and referred to the passion’s history in a talk with conductor Julian Perkins and OBF moderator Holly Roberts before the Hult Center’s Soreng Theater July 11 concert, part of the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene.

And so it happened. Concert Theatre Works, artistically directed by Bill Barclay of early-music and theatrical prestige, created a production with orchestra – in this  case, OBF Baroque Orchestra – four singers and an actor/narrator to tell the story of Jesus’ last days on earth. There’s no more dramatic story than that, and Bach’s Eastertime music, if thinner than his other passions, rose to the occasion.

The four singers in the 20-part piece moved around the stage as different characters in the passion play. They sang their parts and subtly acted out events and emotions with gestures and movement as they sang. They remained in their 21st-century street clothes, though Canadian soprano Pascale Beaudin wore an elegant deep-red silky shirt. They never took a break during the 80-minute piece, though a very brief pause occurred between the first 10 and the last 10 movements. Joseph Marcell, an actor best known for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, narrated eloquently.

So what we got was a “theatrical concert” with musicians and actors/singers and narrator getting equal time, more or less. Neither opera nor oratorio, the performance was a synergistic creative effort to blend and balance theater and early music, or “story and symphony.”

Such is the mission of Concert Works Theatre that created the piece. The international nonprofit company has worked with many famous conductors, actors, and singers, and tours its productions throughout the country and elsewhere.

Aside from Beaudin, who sang soprano, Cody Bowers performed the countertenor part. They were joined by tenor James Reese and bass Jonathan Woody. Countertenor Bowers was tough to hear at first (maybe his mike wasn’t working) but his voice came alive as the 80-minute show moved on. All the singers, minus Bowers at the beginning, were terrific, and they sang better and more comfortably than they acted.