THE Linton Singers accompanied by an invited orchestra will give a performance in English of J. S. Bach’s masterpiece the St John Passion.

The performance will be presented in the North Kirk, John Street, Penicuik at 7.30pm on Saturday, March 28.

Tickets at £10 are available from choir members, or at the church door before the concert or can be reserved through the choir secretary by email secretary@lintonsingers.org, The Passion had its first performance on April 7, 1724 at Good Friday Vespers in St Nicholas Church, Leipzig, Germany.

It is now frequently performed on Good Friday or in the days just prior to Easter. The anonymous libretto draws on existing works and is compiled from recitatives and choruses narrating the Passion of Christ as told in the Gospel of John. The biblical passages from St John’s Gospel are set as recitative for the Evangelist, for Jesus and for various minor characters, and as arias, chorales or choruses. The Linton Singers are delighted to be joined by professional tenor, Tom Morss, who will take the demanding role of the Evangelist. The other solo parts will be sung by members of the choir. From the magnificence of Bach’s music to another reason for this concert - fundraising for Mary’s Meals.

Mary’s Meals ticks a number of boxes in terms of few overheads, using local produce and labour and essentially providing meals to children in places of education. Mary’s Meals is run from an office in the middle of a field in Dalmally, Argyll. The charity provides meals for over 350,000 impoverished children around the world, and is currently working among the most deprived children in 14 countries, including Romania, Malawi and Haiti.

Its founder, Magnus MacFarlane Barrow, said: “We recognise that the very poorest children tend not to go to school because they’re too busy trying to survive, whether that’s working in fields with their parents or begging on street corners. Yet it’s been proven over and over again that a basic education is key to lifting the world’s poorest communities out of poverty. This is a straightforward solution to breaking the cycle: providing the immediate need of a hungry child in a place of education”.

Please support this charity by coming to our concert on March 28 while also having the opportunity of hearing a live performance of Bach’s glorious music.

A donation from the proceeds of this concert will be given to Mary’s Meals who have undertaken tremendous work where extreme poverty exists in the world.