Temple Music, Temple Church

There is marvellous music throughout the year at Temple Church, but in addition to sung services, a series of concerts features some of today's leading artists.

Just before Easter, Bach's St John Passion is sung by Collegium Musicum of London and the Bar Choral Society (11 April). This moving dramatisation of the Easter story features tenor James Way as the Evangelist and Gareth John as Christus. The Bar Choral Society will take the role of a Lutheran congregation and sing the familiar chorales at the emotional and theological heart of the piece.

By contrast with this contemplative work, the string ensemble Outcry Ensemble will perform a lush evening of late romantic music and a new commission by Laurence Osborn (9 May). The programme includes Elgar's elegiac Serenade, Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Richard Strauss's colourful Metamorphosen.

Roger Sayer, organist and director of music at Temple Church, then gives an organ recital (11 May) that includes the colossal Symphonie Passion by Marcel Dupré, which began its life as an improvisation and depicts episodes in the Christian year.

Finally, Temple Church Choir performs landmarks of 20th-century music (18 May): Vaughan Williams’s Mass for Double Choir, evoking the resonance of the Renaissance repertoire, Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Te Deum, and a work that gained popularity in the wake of Fauré's Requiem, his countryman Maurice Duruflé’s own ethereal Requiem.

Sit back and enjoy the soaring architecture of Temple Church and its ringing acoustics.