Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” was a great success.

In five performances, musicians, choirs and soloists under the musical direction of cantor Wolfgang Abendroth and directed by Hanna Werth and Philipp Heitmann impressively demonstrated the grandeur of Leonard Bernstein’s music. Samuel Schürmann gave an outstanding performance as the priest plagued by doubts, referred to as the Celebrant in the play, with a voice that was at times fragile. His performance conveyed the inner turmoil composed by Bernstein in an almost painful way. The magnificent soloist sextet from Streetpeople sang, played and danced throughout the interior of St. John’s Church in a way that was almost dizzying. The secret star of the evening was the enchanting children’s choir of the Academy for Choir and Music Theatre under the direction of Justine Wanath, impressively supported by the youth company of tanzhaus nrw under the direction of Nora Pfahl and Takao Baba. A total of 100 professional and amateur performers took part, acting in the church hall, which had been transformed into a large stage, under the direction of the two directors. “Moving,” “overwhelming” and “impressive” were the unanimous verdicts of the audience after the performances. We are happy and proud to end our anniversary year with this wonderful production.