Concert - Mendelssohn: Elijah

Simon will sing 'Elijah' in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, as part of the Cambridge Music Festival. This concert will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 - the date of the broadcast is still to be confirmed.

From the Cambridge Music Festival's website:

"Dubbed the ‘Messiah of its day’, Mendelssohn’s Elijah was an instant hit and the most popular oratorio of the nineteenth century.

Elijah tells the dramatic story of this inspirational and complex Old Testament prophet – single-minded yet full of doubts, an angry zealot who showed compassion and kindness.

Mendelssohn’s visionary music depicts storms, earthquakes, floods and a chariot of fire – plus moments of tender consolation. Sir Simon Keenlyside, one of the UK’s leading operatic singers, brings this flesh-and-blood character vividly to life, supported by a stellar cast."

This performance of Elijah will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 03 December at 7.30pm.

Click here for more details

SOUNDBITES

"‘Fronting’ the illustrious orchestra and choir were five outstanding solo singers - baritone Sir Simon Keenlyside in the title role, soprano Carolyn Sampson OBE, mezzo Dame Sarah Connolly, tenor Andrew Staples, and a young treble named Auberon Adams.

Right from the start, the powerful combination of music and voice lifted this ambitious piece straight from the page, the beautiful dialogue expertly translated into English by William Bartholomew, and filled the magnificent space with the stirring melodies and stunning operatic delivery of all the extremely talented main participants.....

Sitting next to another reviewer, he turned to me at the end of the first half and basically told me it doesn’t get much better than this.

With these near-perfect performances in a near-perfect venue, I’m strongly inclined to agree."

"...Equally well known, of course, is Elijah and this performance at King’s College Chapel was a choral feast like no other. The hero of the work, Elijah, fell to Sir Simon Keenlyside who was exemplary in the part projecting a strong and authoritative voice when standing up to the likes of an angry and fickle crowd out for his blood as opposed to being such a gentle and humble figure when floundering in the wilderness fighting against the tide, picking up the courage to just stay alive gloriously depicted in the lovely and moving aria found in Part II ‘It is enough, O Lord, now take away my life’ inspired by ‘Es ist vollbracht’ from Bach’s St John Passion...."