In 1993 Jonathan Miller staged Bach’s St Matthew Passion, wedging open the door to sacred repertoire that had been barred shut, and crowding swiftly in came theatre’s biggest names – Deborah Warner, Phyllida Lloyd, Katie Mitchell,

Peter Sellars – all eager to explore this new territory. Since then we have had fully staged productions of all the great baroque oratorios, along with Verdi’s monumental Requiem – a Mass whose primary-coloured music is pure theatre.