Elijah
March–April
Mendelssohn’s great oratorio Op.70, set in English, for soloists, choir and orchestra was premiered at the Birmingham Festival in 1846, one year before the composer’s untimely death. Elijah was immediately acclaimed as an unqualified success in The Times – ‘Never was there a more complete triumph; never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art’ – and has enjoyed huge popularity ever since.
Today, the oratorio is rarely performed, but many of its movements are well-loved, stand-alone classics. You’ll hear Lift thine eyes; He shall give His angels; Oh rest in the Lord; He watching over Israel slumbers not; Oh for the wings of a dove. Working with a score that normally takes two and a half hours to deliver, the ACC follows some traditional cuts to deliver the drama in a leaner concert experience.
Mendelssohn was a great admirer of both Bach and Handel. Elijah, is a synthesis of Baroque structures with textures and colours that demonstrate his lyricism and skill as an early romantic composer.
Palestrina 500
May–August
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526. This year we celebrate his 500th birthday. A prolific composer, Palestrina was the first Italian to successfully adopt the polyphonic style practiced by Flemish composers like Guillaume du Fay and Josquin des Prez (both of whom are represented on this program). Alongside Palestrina‘s well-loved Missa Aeterna Christi Munera and lesser known works on this program, sacred and secular, is the famous Miserere by Palestrina’s student, Gregorio Allegri.
A Renaissance Requiem
August–November
For modern concert-goers, the term Requiem conjures up works by Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi and Britten, all of whom used considerable orchestral and choral resources to depict heaven, hell and the last judgement. The Missa pro defunctis, composed by Tomás Luis Victoria is a requiem of a very different kind. This work succeeds in portraying the gamut of human emotions with great intensity, dealing with themes of life and death while using only the human voice. This requiem is the inspiration and the departure point for a new work by Gordon Kerry, commissioned by Robert Lewis for the ACC.
Gordon’s new work takes the form of interpolations between an exquisite array of Renaissance choral music, sacred and secular. The entire performance tells a story of how we deal with loss and sadness.
Baroque Christmas 2025
November–December
A fixture on the Christmas calendar, this ever-changing program, now in its seventh incarnation, is testament to the fact that throughout history, composers have produced some of their liveliest and most engaging work for the Christmas season.