Simon Mold’s music has been widely published, performed, recorded and broadcast: for instance his anthem Come, praise the saints, for choir, organ and 3 trumpets was conducted by John Scott in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, and his well-known Candlelight Carol featured in Lesley Garrett’s television series Christmas Voices. Three albums of Simon Mold’s vocal and choral music have been released in recent years, and his verse collection Poetry of the Peak was published in 2019. Simon has also been a regular contributor to various musical and literary magazines, and has written widely on diverse aspects of music, language and literature.

Drawing deeply on the traditions of baroque Passion settings as well as such works as Stainer’s The Crucifixion and Maunder’s Olivet to Calvary, Passiontide is a masterpiece which, if there is any justice in the world, will be widely sung, to be appreciated by choirs and audiences/congregations alike.

Premiered in Kent in 2009, Passiontide was conceived as an alternative to Stainer’s Crucifixion, telling the story of Holy Week in the manner of a small oratorio and including several hymns for choir and audience in a nod to the earlier composer’s well-known choral work. Simon Mold has compiled an eclectic libretto that combines some quirky 17th-century metrical Gospel narrative with a variety of choral and solo reflections; the result is a strikingly accessible work that explores a range of emotions with a sure feel for word-setting and an irrepressible tunefulness, while nonetheless capable of many passages of gravitas, poignancy and lingering beauty.