Dett The Chariot Jubilee & Mendelssohn Elijah

Description

Thursday 30 November at 8pm & Saturday 2 December 6pm: Dett The Chariot Jubilee & Mendelssohn Elijah

Paris Choral Society with Conductor Zachary Ullery

Soloists: Soprano: Alexandra Flood, Alto: Grace Durham, Tenor: Howard Haskin, Bass: Tomasz Kumięga

With The Open Chamber Orchestra

Dett The Chariot Jubilee

The Paris Choral Society and tenor soloist Howard Haskin will perform Nathaniel Dett’s The Chariot Jubilee.

This captivating oratorio is thought to be the first-ever symphonic work based solely on African-American spirituals. It was originally written and performed in 1919, but the orchestration was lost for decades. It was re-created 80 years later, enabling new performances including for Martin Luther King’s 70th birthday. Spirituals, African-American folk songs, and lines from the Bible form the basis of the text which dates from 1919. Dett (1882-1943) was born in Canada where he started his studies in piano and organ, which he continued in the US and France. He championed the inclusion of spirituals in his compositions as well as in his work as a choral director, including after his appointment as the first black Director of Music at the Hampton Institute (Virginia) in 1926.

Mendelssohn Elijah

The chorus, the quartet of soloists and orchestra will peform Mendelssohn’s great telling of the story of the prophet Elijah.

Over the years, PCS has sung many great oratorios, from Bach’s baroque Christmas Oratorio to the most romantic works of Mendelssohn. Elijah, the composer’s last such composition before his premature death in 1849, is one of the most splendid. With a libretto drawn from the Old Testament, Mendelssohn’s oratorio humanizes Elijah and makes tangible the prophet’s faith.

It has been suggested that Elijah, with its minimal narration, many great choruses, abundant musical-dramatic dialogue between characters, and prioritizing of action over moralizing, functions as the opera that Mendelssohn never got to write. The work professes timeless spiritual values, stressing the worth of endurance and perseverance, the importance of hope amid despair.

Tickets on the door will be 25 euro.

Students 10 euro and children under 12 are free of charge.