Indeed, given the reverence afforded both to the Passion genre and Bach himself, reception history has not been kind toward attempts to stage this musical depiction of Christ’s suffering and death. Some have, for example, denounced his stage directions as both New-Age spiritual and “grossly real.” Given the stark and sometimes offensive interpretations in staging both canonic and contemporary works, a ‘Peter Sellars Bach Passion’ was surely to have been greatly anticipated. Known for his unconventional interpretations, Sellars has for decades been a controversial figure. In 2010, American opera director Peter Sellars mounted a production in Salzburg of the famed St Matthew Passion, which later reached a global audience when the production was transferred and live streamed/video recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic.
