Holy Week and Easter on Radio 3

Church of St Simon and St Jude, Prague

Holy Week around Europe

On Sunday 20 March (Palm Sunday), Ian Skelly presents the European Broadcasting Union's annual day of music to mark Holy Week, with live and pre-recorded concerts from Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Prague, Rome and Wexford.

• Part 1 at 1pm: Music by Vivaldi complements Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in a concert in the Gardens of the Vatican, and the BBC Singers sing music appropriate to Holy Week by William Byrd and Thomas Tallis.

• Part 2 at 4pm: Baroque music appropriate to Holy Week from one of Prague's most beautiful Baroque churches – St Simon and St Jude (pictured) – and two concerts from the Low Countries: Szymanowski's Stabat Mater and music by Zemlinsky from Brussels, and from Amsterdam the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's annual Eastertide performance of Bach's monumental St Matthew Passion.

• Part 3 at 10.30pm: The day closes with concerts from Ireland and Denmark featuring Haydn's great Passiontide cycle of pieces for string quartet, The Seven Last Words, and Josquin's final Mass setting in the context of medieval and modern choral music appropriate to Holy Week.

The Essay at 10.45pm: Desperately Seeking Eternity

Five writers explore concepts of eternity within,and beyond, religious and cultural traditions. In the first edition, Anglican priest and broadcaster Peter Owen Jones calls for eternity to be reclaimed from those who have tried to place it out of reach of the ordinary person.

Through the Night at 1am

Szymanowski's Stabat Mater, Op.53. With Ewa Vesin (soprano), Edyta Kulczak (mezzo soprano), Jaroslaw Brek (baritone), National Forum of Music Choir, Polish National Youth Chorus, and the National Forum of Music Symphony Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Shwartz.

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

The Essay at 10.45pm: Desperately Seeking Eternity

Five personal reflections on the enduring human obsession with eternity, continuing with the thoughts of Muslim theologian Mona Siddiqui, who writes that the prospect of immortality, for all its theological grandeur, is too abstract to offer much tangible consolation to the living.

The Essay at 1045pm: Desperately Seeking Eternity

Does our insistence on measuring and categorising time serve to make eternity even more unknowable? What can the principles of mathematics tell us about the tricky subject of infinity? How would people feel about eternity if they could live to be 200 years old? Anders Sandberg of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University is a transhumanist. He researches the potential benefits and drawbacks – both physical and ethical – of new technologies that could transform human life. He argues that ageing and mortality may be transformed by future technology, with big effects on our society. How would this affect our outlook on life, and on the afterlife?

Through the Night at 1230am

The Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae by Emilio de' Cavalieri (c.1550-1602), from the 2014 Poznan Baroque Festival in Poland. With Doron Schleifer (cantus), David Feldman (cantus), Cory Knight (tenor), Dan Dunkelblum (tenor), Elam Rotem (bass, harpsichord), Ori Harmelin (chitarrone), Elizabeth Rumsey (lirone), Giovanna Baviera (viola da gamba), and Aki Moda (organ).

Afternoon on 3 at 2pm

Verity Sharp presents a recording of Bach's St John Passion, performed by Collegium Vocale Gent at the Pau Casals Hall in Barcelona, with conductor Philippe Herreweghe. Soloists: Thomas Hobbs (tenor: Evangelist), Tobias Berndt (bass: Jesus), Grace Davidson (soprano), Damien Guillon (countertenor), Zachary Wilder (tenor) and Peter Kooij (bass: Pilate).

J S Bach (1685-1750)

Radio 3 in Concert at 7.30pm

Bach Cantatas for Lent and Passiontide performed by the Academy of Ancient Music and Choir, directed by Pavlo Beznosiuk, live from Milton Court Concert Hall, London. Bach: Cantata No 127 'Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott'; Cantata No 39 'Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot'; 'Ich lasse dich nicht', BWV Anh 159; Cantata No 182 'Himmelskönig, sei willkommen'.

The Essay at 1045pm: Desperately Seeking Eternity

Five personal reflections on the enduring human obsession with eternity, continuing with the thoughts of novelist and game creator Naomi Alderman, who grew up with an Orthodox Jewish take on eternity. She now suspects that mathematical theories about infinity could take the place of God in the lives of those without religious faith.

Radio 3 in Concert, at 7.30pm

Stephen Cleobury conducts the BBC Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra from the Easter at King's Festival in Cambridge. The programme includes music by Palestrina and Schubert, and ends with Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ, which was composed in 1783 for the Good Friday Service at Oratorio de la Santa Cueva in Cadiz, Spain. Palestrina: Stabat Mater. Schubert: Symphony No 4 in C minor (Tragic). Interval. Haydn: Seven Last Words of Christ (H.XX.2). With Emma Tring (soprano), Rebecca Lodge (alto), Andrew Murgatroyd (tenor), Jimmy Holliday (bass), the BBC Singers, and the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Cleobury.

King's College Chapel, Cambridge

The Essay at 1045pm: Desperately Seeking Eternity

All the established religions teach some form of existence after life, from concepts of heaven and hell to theories of reincarnation. Common to all is the principle that good or bad actions in this life will have repercussions after death. Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James's Church in London's Piccadilly, considers how relevant various theories of the afterlife are to the world people live in now.

Stevan Hristić

Through the Night at 2am: Resurrection by Stevan Hristić

Through the Night presents a rare opportunity to hear a seminal work of Serbian musical literature. Stevan Hristić (1885-1958) was a prominent representative of the late romanticist style in Serbian music of the first half of the 20th century. His Resurrection, a setting of a text by Dragutin Ilić, was premiered in 1912, the first oratorio in the history of Serbian music.

Sunday Morning at 9am

James Jolly's Easter Sunday selection includes the early Corsican melody Maria (sopra La Carpinese), and then explores Easter in the works of composers as varied as Glazunov, Rachmaninov, and Mascagni. He also marks the date of Mstislav Rostropovich's birth with his famous recording of the Debussy cello sonata.

Worcester Cathedral

Choral Evensong at 3pm

Easter Day Festal Evensong, live from Worcester Cathedral. Introit: Now let us sing (Ben Parry). Responses: Philip Moore. Psalm 105 (Attwood, Ley, Woodward, Moorse). First Lesson: Isaiah 43vv1521. Canticles: Stanford in B flat. Second Lesson: Luke 24 vv1335. Homily: Canon Dr Michael Brierley. Anthem: Light of the World (Elgar). Hymn: Alleluia, alleluia! hearts to heaven and voices raise (Lux Eoi). Te Deum in B flat (Stanford). Organ Voluntary: Acclamations (Langlais). Organist: Christopher Allsop. Director of Music: Peter Nardone.