For the second time in this 39th concert season for the Cellar Singers, Maestro Albert Greer will hand over his baton to another conductor.

At Christmas, Greer’s place on the podium was taken by Blair Bailey, while he sang the role of Hashmakaka in The Last Straw, by Ruth Watson Henderson.

Now he is performing the part of the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion, for about the 100th time, in this, his 31st year with the Cellar Singers.

Greer’s first performance of this was back in 1964 on March 17 at the Trinity College Chapel in Toronto.

The Evangelist has become his signature role and among many other venues, he has performed it on CBC Radio, in London, England, Halifax and Dunedin, New Zealand.

The baton this time will be wielded by Robert Cooper, who is no stranger to the choir as he has been their conductor for other choral collaborations, namely both the Requiems by Verdi and Berlioz.

Cooper is one of Canada’s leading choral conductors and is presently artistic director of several choirs. He teaches at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto and is also executive producer for opera and choral music for CBC Radio Two.

The Passion of St. John by Johann Sebastian Bach was first performed in Leipzig in 1724. It has become a much loved favourite with audiences and was last performed by the Cellar Singers choir in 1996.

They will be accompanied this time by a 20-piece orchestra and several familiar soloists.

This performance will take place Saturday, March 8 at St. Paul’s United Church, Orillia at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are available at Bracebridge 645-4273 and Gravenhurst 687-8078.

A bus will leave Bracebridge Post Office at 6 p.m. and Foodland parking lot, Gravenhurst at 6:15 p.m.