Arvo Pärts Passio i Holmens Kirke og Rosenkavaleren på Operaen

Arvo Pärt's Passio at Holmens Kirke and Der Rosenkavalier at the Opera

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Live Klassisk2 min read|29. March 2026

Easter brings a rich offering of classical music, with both Det Kongelige Teater and the churches marking the season with significant performances.

On Sunday evening in Holmens Kirke, Mogens Dahl Kammerkor presents Arvo Pärt's monumental "Passio" from 1982 - one of the most moving Passion works of modern times. Pärt's minimalist approach to the St John Passion creates an almost meditative experience, supported by the soloists Petter Moen and Steffen Bruun.

On the Opera's Store Scene the audience can experience both Richard Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier" and Donizetti's "Don Pasquale". Chief conductor Marie Jacquot's new staging of "Der Rosenkavalier" promises to explore the opera's complex emotional life, while "Don Pasquale" offers Glyndebourne Festival Opera's critically acclaimed and colourful interpretation of Donizetti's jokes.

Chamber music takes a prominent place with John Kruse and a string quartet from Det Kongelige Kapel, who perform two of the finest clarinet quintets in the repertoire in Odense Valgmenighed - Mozart's KV 581 and Brahms's Op. 115. These works represent both the elegance of Classicism and the depth of Romanticism.

A particularly interesting programme takes place at Konservatoriet, where NOVO Quartet combines Bartók's intense Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Schubert's sublime String Quintet in C major - an unusual but musically logical pairing of two masterpieces from different eras.

Trinitatis Kirke makes its mark with a whole Bach festival throughout the week, culminating in François Couperin's "Leçons de ténèbres" - the most refined Passion music of the Baroque - performed by Hanna Kappelin and Kristin Mulders.

The week contains both the great stages and the intimate church spaces, from virtuoso chamber music to spiritual Passion music, and shows the breadth of classical music in the spirit of Easter.