Andrey Nemzer’s soaring voice announced the sad news to the full house in the St. Vincent Archabbey Basilica.

“Es ist vollbracht” — “It is finished” — the countertenor sang during a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St. John Passion.” Bach’s two-hour-long masterpiece for soloists, orchestra and choir is among the traditional works often performed during the Lenten and Easter seasons. These passion plays, oratorios and cantatas all tell stories about the final days of Jesus on earth.

The aria for the countertenor — a male singer whose voice is in the same range as a female mezzo-soprano — marks the moment in the work when Jesus dies on the cross.

The recent performance of  “St. John Passion” by the Pittsburgh Symphony and The Mendelssohn Choir at the Benedictine church in Unity was one of many productions with religious themes performed at this time of year. The Easter season often overlaps with the older Jewish festival of Passover. Other springtime works draw on stories from the Old Testament. Earlier this month, for example, the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale performed Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah.” Those performances were at Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church and at Ingomar United Methodist Church in Franklin Park.

Passion plays traditionally have been among the most popular of seasonal programs, but their numbers have been declining in recent years. The last of more than 400 performances of “Why Must He Die?” were given in 2014, ending an almost three-decade Lenten run. The play with music had its roots at St. James Catholic School in Sewickley and had been performed at churches around southwestern Pennsylvania.

The best known of the plays was “Veronica's Veil,” which was performed for more than 90 years at the former St. Michael's School on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The local production, which ended about five years ago, was inspired by the elaborate passion play performed periodically since 1634 in Oberammergau, Germany.

Such productions have sometimes stirred controversy. Some versions, especially in Europe, included anti-Semitic content. Those texts have been revised in recent decades.

The authors of scripts for contemporary passion plays have recognized the dangers in demeaning Jews, Rabbi Ron Symons said. The result has been stories that still accurately portray Christian belief and scripture without denigrating others. Rabbi Symons is senior director of Jewish life at the Jewish Community Center of Pittsburgh.

Among the Easter plays still being staged are “The Passion of Our Lord,” put on each year by Word of Life Ministries in Hempfield, and “His Passion Forever,” performed by a young cast sponsored by Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Ligonier. “The Passion of Our Lord" is marking its 17th year, while “His Passion Forever” has been going strong for 41 years.

Sandy Podlucky has volunteered with the Ligonier play since it began. She started as production manager and has been the director for 31 years.

Young cast members, who range in age from about 5 to 18, come back year after year, she said. This year’s cast of 40 performers includes four high school seniors who have appeared in 10 years’ worth of productions. Cast members come from many of the region’s churches. “They have a lot of fun,” Ms. Podlucky said. “But they understand that while they may do a lot of plays in their lives, none will have a more profound message for the audience.”

“His Passion Forever” is presented as a series of Bible-based scenes, taken from the New Testament, portraying the final days, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Rev. John M. Foriska, Holy Trinity’s pastor, provides narration for the production, which includes recorded music, costumes, sound effects and theatrical lighting. The performers on stage are backed by a technical crew of 15 volunteers.

The play has been a family project for many years for production manager Stephanie Finger. Her adult sons, Daniel and Jonathan, are show alumni, and her daughter, Brittany, is taking the part of an angel in this year’s performances. The final performance this year is tonight in Ligonier Town Hall in Ligonier Borough.

“The Passion of Our Lord” draws nightly audiences of 1,000 to its performances between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. The Word of Life Ministries church is on state Route 136, southwest of Greensburg.

The cast includes more than 90 actors, 45 choir members and 16 dancers. Director Lynn Reinsmith estimated that about 200 congregation members take part in the production onstage and backstage.

The musical production covers the life of Jesus from his birth through his crucifixion and resurrection. The action takes place on stage and in the aisles.

Susan Medley, director of the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, looked to the Old Testament stories about the prophet Elijah for her group’s spring concert. The 120-voice choir doesn’t exclusively sing music with a religious component for its annual classical performances. “But so much of the greatest choral music is sacred — the Masses, the oratorios and cantatas,” she noted.

The Concert Chorale, founded by Clark Bedford, is in its 31st season. Among past works with religious themes performed by the regional singers have been Brahms’ “Requiem,” Haydn’s “The Creation” and Rachmaninoff’s “Vespers.”

The sounds of religious music like the “St. John Passion” and Masses by Haydn and Mozart have been heard for decades in St. Vincent Basilica, Archabbot Douglas Nowicki said. That love of music goes back to the abbey’s earliest days.

The founder of what is now the Benedictine order’s archabbey, the Rev. Boniface Wimmer, “was convinced that music and art were essential parts of the experience of education,” Archabbot Nowicki said.

Audience members, singers and instrumentalists, including conductor Manfred Honeck, all were moved by the “St. John Passion.” As the last notes of the final chorale died away, there was silence for about 30 seconds, Archabbot Nowicki recalled. Then the waves of applause began. “The music of Bach connects us to the eternal, to God, to a renewed spirituality,” he said.

Len Barcousky: lbarcousky@post-gazette.com.

First Published: March 25, 2016, 4:00 a.m.