The Festival Choir: Nelson Mass

Joseph Haydn and the Festival Choir are this year's choral highlight. Brilliant amateurs and professional musicians come together in the magnificent Frydendal Church.

Date
Time
–
Venue
Frydendal kirke
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Festivalkoret i Frydendal kirke
Foto: Liv Øvland

About the concert

When something is done for the third year running, you can surely call it a tradition? And what a tradition we've created.

With conductor Tor Morten Halvorsen, we've established the Festival Choir as one of the great highlights. This year the choir tackles Haydn's most substantial mass work.

Missa in angustiis (Mass for Troubled Times) is a work that places great demands on the choir. For those of us listening, however, we only need to sit back and enjoy.

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Concert program

Joseph Haydn: Missa in angustiis (Nelson Mass)

  1. Kyrie, Allegro moderato
  2. Gloria, Allegro
  3. Credo, Allegro con spirito
  4. Sanctus, Adagio
  5. Benedictus, Allegretto
  6. Agnus Dei, Adagio

Austrian composer Joseph Haydn wrote this work at a time when his homeland was at war with France. Napoleon won battle after battle, but in August 1798 Napoleon suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of the Nile. The victor was Horatio Nelson, and the work thus became popularly known as the Nelson Mass. A small glimmer of hope in Austria's hopelessness.

Performers:

  • Lina Johnson, soprano
  • Frøydis Fegran Kopperud, alto
  • Simen Bredesen, tenor
  • Halvor Melien, bass
  • Orchestra with strings from Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Talent Sør, along with festival musicians and the festival choir conducted by Tor Morten Halvorsen.

Artists