Felix Mendelssohn
Elijah
Op. 70
Mendelssohn's Elijah (Op. 70) is widely regarded as one of the greatest oratorios ever written. Premiered in Birmingham in 1846, it tells the story of the prophet Elijah with dramatic force and lyrical beauty. The baritone role of Elijah is one of the great oratorio roles, and the double-choir numbers are among the most exciting in the repertoire.
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Movements
Help, Lord!
Lord! bow thine ear to our prayer!
Yet doth the Lord see it not
For he shall give his angels
Blessed are the men who fear him
As God the Lord of Sabaoth liveth
Baal, we cry to thee
Hear our cry, O Baal
Hear and answer ...
O thou, who makest thine angels spirits
Thanks be to God
Be not afraid, saith God the Lord
Woe to him, he shall perish
He, watching over Israel, slumbers not
He that shall endure to the end, shall be saved
Behold! God the Lord passeth by!
Holy is God the Lord ...
Then did Elijah the prophet break forth
But the Lord, from the north hath raised one
And then shall your light break forth
Chorus
Chris Webb
Chris Webb is a bass and former choral scholar of Clare College, Cambridge, where he also sang with the University Chamber Choir. Now a lay clerk at Southwark Cathedral, he performs with the Monteverdi Choir, London Voices, Farm Street Singers and Blossom Street, and has sung abroad with the Zürcher Sing-Akademie. His operatic roles include Colline in Puccini's La bohème for Merry Opera Company and Sarastro in Mozart's Magic Flute for Opera Anywhere; he took part in ENO's Opera Works programme in 2016–17 and studies with Alex Ashworth.
Emily Wenman
Emily Wenman is a soprano who completed her MA in Vocal Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under Leah Marian Jones, and now studies with Gail Pearson. She is a principal soprano with Blossom Street, the St Martin's Voices Fellowship at St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Gesualdo Consort, Seren Singers and Newman Hall Choir, and a former choral scholar of King's College London and the BBC National Chorus of Wales. An experienced singing teacher and vocal animateur, she has led projects for the BBC National Chorus of Wales, the Arts Active Trust and WNO Max.
Felicity Davies
Felicity Davies is a soprano who graduated from Trinity College of Music in 2010, winning the TCM Vocal Contemporary Prize. She sings with the BBC Singers, Ex Cathedra and the Armonico Consort alongside a busy solo career, with oratorio credits including The Creation, Elijah, Mozart's Requiem and Messiah, and contemporary works by Judith Weir. Her operatic roles range across Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and The Pirates of Penzance, and she appeared at the BBC Proms in 2010.
Graham Neal
Graham Neal is a tenor who read music at the University of Surrey, winning the Robert Naylor prize, before further study on ENO's Knack course and at Trinity College of Music. His operatic work has taken him to the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, l'Opéra Comique and Grange Park Opera. As a consort singer he performs with the Monteverdi Choir, The King's Consort, Philharmonia Voices, English Voices, Sonoro, Orpheus Britannicus, the Hanover Band and Cappella Nova, and sings with the London Oratory choir.
Rene Bloice Sanders
René Bloice-Sanders is a baritone who trained as a treble in Canterbury Cathedral Choir and joined the National Youth Choir in 2004. He holds a BA (Hons) from the University of Nottingham (2010) and a Master's in Vocal Studies from the Royal Academy of Music (2013), where he gained a Distinction and the Nora Carstairs Bland Award. His operatic roles include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Marcello in La bohème, Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Belcore in L'elisir d'amore, and his concert work spans Handel's Messiah, Bach's Johannes and Matthäus Passion, Brahms' Requiem and Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony.
Robert Jenkins
Robert Jenkins is a tenor who took his BMus (Hons) at Birmingham Conservatoire in 2012, winning the Cecil Drew Oratorio Prize, and spent five years as Tenor Lay Clerk at Birmingham Cathedral. He sings with the BBC Singers, Ex Cathedra, Polyphony, Philharmonia Voices, Siglo de Oro and the Proteus Ensemble, and with the choirs of Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Chelsea Old Church and Westminster Cathedral. Alongside his choral work he maintains an active solo career and has appeared in a range of operatic roles.
Rosemary Clifford
soprano
Musical Director
Hilary Campbell
Hilary Campbell is a freelance choral conductor who founded and directs the professional chamber choir Blossom Street, and is Musical Director of Bristol Choral Society, Chiswick Choir and the Music Makers of London. Her guest conducting includes the BBC Symphony Chorus, Trinity Laban Chamber Choir, the BBC Radio 4 Daily Service Singers and the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Chorus, whom she prepared for Mahler's Symphony No. 2 under Semyon Bychkov; she also directed the P&O Ferries Choir to victory in BBC Two's The Choir. She collaborates each year with Judith Weir at the Royal Academy of Music, works as an adjudicator and workshop leader, and is a published, prize-winning composer and founding member of the Voices of London Festival.
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