Massachusetts

Bach performed with rare profundity at H+H concert

Bach performed with rare profundity at H+H concert

Mary McCleary

Authenticity is an elusive accomplishment when performing that most profound of musical scores, Bach's St. John Passion. Artists must interpret the text in a way that is moving but not maudlin and hopeful without being saccharine. On Friday night, the Handel & Haydn Society succeeded admirably at the task. Harry Christophers' perspicacious conducting elicited the type of superior performance one hopes to hear with Bach's mighty work.

Bach wrote the St. John Passion oratorio during his first year as the church music director of Leipzig, Germany. The première was on April 7, 1724 at St. Nicholas Church for the Good Friday Vespers. The score alternates between recitatives, which tell the Passion story, and arias and chorales that either assume character roles or provide stirring reflections on the text.

‘Bathroom bill’ moot, if federal officials have their way
Massachusetts

‘Bathroom bill’ moot, if federal officials have their way

Evan Lips

BOSTON — The federal government may soon require Massachusetts public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice, regardless of whether the state legislature passes the so-called "bathroom bill," an examination of U.S. Department of Education documents indicates.

Massachusetts is currently considering legislation that would give transgendered people the right to use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds to their gender identity, rather than their anatomical sex. But officials at the U.S. Department of Education say that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 already mandates that result in schools that receive federal funding.

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