United Kingdom BBC Proms 2026 [30] – Bach, Mass in B minor: Jeanine De Bique (soprano), Eva Zaïcik (soprano), Hugh Cutting (countertenor), Nick Pritchard (tenor), Florian Störtz (bass-baritone), Arcangelo / Jonathan Cohen (director/harpsichord). Royal Albert Hall, London 10.9.2026. (JR)
As so often the case, as the BBC Proms sadly draw to their end in September, we hear some of the very finest concerts and ensembles.
Founded in 2010, Arcangelo is an acclaimed period-performance ensemble led by its founder and artistic director Jonathan Cohen. They have been touring with their interpretation of Bach’s B minor Mass, with three performances in São Paulo in mid-August, at the Rheingau Festival at the baroque Basilica Kloster Eberbach (west of Wiesbaden), at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and now, finally, at the Proms. The performance, therefore, had the advantage of being extremely well rehearsed.
Arcangelo are not newcomers to the work: their Hyperion Records release in 2015 of the Mass in B minor was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice and an Awards Finalist. The Gramophone commented: ‘The work infrequently speaks with such gracefulness, freedom or conviction’.
Arcangelo fielded a medium-sized chorus of roughly 50 singers and an orchestra of around 40, their largest-ever ensemble. The challenge – only partly overcome – was to bring the work across, with these somewhat reduced forces, in the difficult acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall.
The chorus, made up mainly of youngish singers, impressed right from the very opening, ‘Kyrie eleison’. Clear articulation, perfect intonation, spot-on and clean entries, accentuated phrasing, sopranos without harsh top notes, elegant tenors, warm basses. They were always a delight to listen to. In the faster sections, ‘Gloria’, ‘Et in terra pax’, ‘Cum sancta spiritu’, ‘et resurrexit’, to name just some, they threw themselves exhilaratingly at the score; jaunty in the ‘Credo in unum Deum’. In the reflective sections such as ‘et in terra pax’, ‘Gratias agimus’ and ‘Dona nobis pacem’ they were stately and graceful. The long notes at the end of each section were held long and with stamina. I had the advantage of sitting with a chorus director, who shall remain nameless, who has sung the work with a professional choir, and now directs two large amateur choirs, has performed the work 14 times and rehearsed it well over a hundred times: he told me he had never heard a finer choir. Very high praise indeed, and who am I to argue with that.
The soloists were all baroque specialists. Jeanine de Bique hails from Trinidad and is known for her performance of Baroque works. She offered flawless technique, but – as many of the other soloists – seemed intimidated at first by the huge hall; from our seats in the Stalls she came across as underpowered in this hall and did not inflect enough meaning into her words.
French mezzo-soprano Eva Zaïcik is also known for her interpretations of the baroque classics: next year she will perform the St. Matthew Passion with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra as well as Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Mass in C minor under Philippe Herreweghe and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas under Thomas Hengelbrock. Her voice had purity, lovely in ‘Laudamus te’.
Hugh Cutting was the first countertenor to win the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2021; he is now much in demand by leading proponents of the baroque repertoire. He was, excuse the pun, a cut above the rest of the soloists. He knew exactly how to project his beautiful voice into all corners of the hall and gave every word meaning. His was a performance to watch and savour. His high notes in ‘Qui sedes’ were a delight, his ‘Agnus Dei’ a masterclass of emotion.
Nick Pritchard is a Bach specialist, best known for his performances as The Evangelist in the two Bach passions; Whilst his phrasing was impeccable, he came across too faintly in the ‘Benedictus’.
Florian Störtz announced his arrival on the concert scene with victories at the International Handel Singing Competition in 2023. His ‘In spiritum Sanctum’ was, in particular, well delivered.
Normally a live performance is always to be favoured over and above a radio broadcast, but – listening to the Prom after the performance – in this instance the BBC sound engineers caught the orchestra and soloists far better than we heard, or did not quite hear, in the performance in the hall.
The orchestra worked hard, I highlight solos by Zefira Valova (violin), Clara Espinosa Encinas (oboe d’amore) and Ursula Paludan Monberg (horn) in ‘Quoniam tu solos sanctus’, quite stealing the limelight from the bass soloist. The trio of trumpets did not come through sufficiently, though admittedly they were facing away from where I was seated.
But these are all very minor quibbles in what was a truly wonderful performance of the highest quality, and any concerns must be directed at the acoustics of the hall. The performance would have benefited from a considerably smaller hall, or baroque church.
Jonathan Cohen is not only Artistic Director of Arcangelo but also of the Handel and Haydn Society and Advisor to the London Handel Festival. He directed from the harpsichord, accompanying the arias. Whilst we heard him turn the pages of his score, we could not hear the harpsichord at all, facing towards the choir and surrounded by the orchestra. Cohen’s choice of tempi, phrasing and dynamics were faultless.
John Rhodes