Mendelssohn’s oratorio (Dorchester)
Date: Friday 14th May 2010
Time: 8pm
Location: Dorchester Abbey
In mid-May, the East Oxford Community Choir will join forces with the ‘Ensemble Vocal Interlude’ from Grenoble, France, to perform Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio, ‘Paulus’ (‘St Paul’). They will perform two concerts – one in Oxford and the other in Dorchester-on-Thames.
‘Paulus’, completed when Mendelssohn was only 25, tells the story of the capture, trial and stoning of Stephen; Saul’s persecution of the Christians; Saul’s conversion; and his baptism as Paul. It is a tremendously powerful, dramatic work, with passages of great lyrical beauty and serenity. Premiered to enormous acclaim in Düsseldorf in 1836, it had the effect of reviving the oratorio in Europe.
Divinity Road resident, Chris Emlyn-Jones, will sing the part of St Paul, and the concerts will be conducted by local music teacher, Mel Houldershaw.
The details of the two concerts are as follows:
Mendelssohn: ‘St Paul – the Conversion’
East Oxford Community Choir, orchestra and soloists, with Ensemble Vocal Interlude, from Grenoble.
Also: Mozart’s ‘Exultate Jubilate’ (soprano Helen Maxey)
Friday, 14 May, 8 p.m. at Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester-on-Thames
Saturday, 15 May, 5 p.m. at St Mary & St John Church, Cowley Road, Oxford.
Tickets: £10/£9 concessions/ £3 under-18s
Available from The Playhouse: tel.: 01865 305305
Website: www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford
Or at the door.
For further information, or to order tickets, please contact Glen Williams (Oxford 727612), 93 Divinity Road.
