The Dutch National Opera is set to present Bach’s “St. John Passion.”

The opera will be conducted by Leonardo García-Alarcón and choreographed and directed by Sasha Waltz and will be the first collaboration between Dutch National Opera and the Netherlands Bach Society.

In a statement, García-Alarcón said, “At some point in his life, Bach must have considered composing an opera. He knew the operas of Lotti, Telemann and Hasse well. The only problem was that there wasn’t an opera house in Leipzig. He had an inherent need for dramatic music, though.”

Waltz added, “In a way, everyone in this performance is Jesus. Or, to put it differently: everyone carries their own cross. I want to emphasise this by having multiple performers embody Jesus at different moments.”

The production will star David Fischer, Andreas Wolf, Florian Boesch, Chelsea Zurflüh, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, and Matthew Newlin.

St. John Passion will open on Nov. 10 and run through Nov. 26, 2026.