Category Archives: Elijah

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An exhilarating performance of Elijah!

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The Birmingham Festival Choral Society performance of Elijah on 5th November was a thrilling occasion, with many audience members saying that it was the best BFCS concert they had ever heard! The choir, orchestra and soloists were all on top form, performing to a full house at the Ruddock Performing Arts Centre.

We are very grateful to Ian Howarth for this review of the concert

Many thanks also to Alfred White for the photos of a concert to remember.

The role of Elijah was sung with great dramatic effect by opera baritone Byron Jackson. A star performance! Our reviewer said that Byron’s singing of Elijah’s song of despair: ‘It is enough’ was one of the most moving performances that he had ever heard. Byron’s position high above the choir and orchestra increased the drama.

Image: Jill Lampert

Molly Barker (Jezebel, an angel), Alexandra Wynne (widow, angel), Polly Stirland (youth, angel) and Peter Davoren (Obadiah, Ahab) were also first class. Alexandra’s performance was even more impressive when people realised that she had stepped in at 24 hours notice!

Molly Barker
Alexandra Wynne
Polly Stirland
Peter Davoren

An E mail sent by a member of the audience said that The soloists were ALL superb – and I was brought up on Isobel Baillie and Kathleen Ferrier, spent some of my earliest wages on the recording with Janet Baker, Nicolai Gedda, and Fischer-Dieskau, and have since acquired the Renee Fleming / Bryn Terfel version! The trio and quartets were exquisite, and it was such a good idea to bring the soloists in for the last few bars of the final chorus, not least for the tenors, who will I’m sure have been grateful for the help with that sustained top A after an evening of very hard work.

Image: Jill Lampert

The trio of angels singing ‘Lift thine eyes to the mountains’ was another highlight of the concert, as shown by the comments on social media below this photo:

Voices from heaven (TP), Spine tingling, absolutely incredible beauty (MF), Beautiful (NW), This was so movingly sung. Absolutely superb. Thank you to the three of you. (JA). A truly wonderful evening. Our friends who attended were ‘blown away’ by the performance with one saying it was the best concert of BFCS’s that he’s attended….(DM)

It was wonderful to sing those big choruses accompanied by the Central England Camerata and Kevin Gill on the organ. The individual instruments brought so much depth to the arias and slow movements too.

Don’t forget the choir, who sang their hearts out, just as their predecessors had done at the Premiere in 1846. We can see why this marvellous work has been such a favourite with choral societies to this day.

Another extract from that Email sent by a member of the audience…

Fantastic performance of Elijah on Saturday night. It’s a work I know well and love greatly, and the trip over from Coventry proved more than worth the effort.

The choir was excellent, and certainly enacted that great rule of performance – make sure you start and end well! That first cry for help and the triumphant final Amen were both exhilarating.

(Click on photos to open in full.)

Finally, a special mention goes to David Wynne, who prepared the choir so well, and brought such a wonderful collection of musicians together to perform under his leadership. Thank you David!

Birmingham Choirs, Birmingham Events, Birmingham Music, Choral, Elijah, Mendelssohn, news

Elijah – a choral masterpiece.

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Elijah – our next concert

Felix Mendelssohn’s choral masterpiece Elijah is a dramatic telling of stories from the life of the Old Testament prophet. It’s all there – fire, storms, curses and drought, to be followed later by a song of the angels and ascent to heaven in a fiery chariot. The range of dramatic choruses and arias make it a great favourite with choral societies and audiences.

The part of Elijah will be sung in our concert by baritone Byron Jackson. The other vocal soloists in our talented line-up will be Carrie-Ann Williams and Polly Stirland (Sopranos), Molly Barker (Mezzo soprano) and Peter Davoren (Tenor). 

David Wynne will bring together the Birmingham Festival Choral Society and soloists, Kevin Gill on the organ and the 22 piece Central England Camerata, making it a night to remember.

Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Saturday 5th November 7.30pm.

The Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, Kings Edward’s School, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2UA

Buy tickets here

Click here to read about our choir singing the World Premiere of Elijah, with Mendelssohn himself conducting.

Birmingham, Birmingham History, Birmingham Music, Birmingham Triennial Festival, Elijah, Mendelssohn, news, Oratorio

BFCS and the Premiere of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’.

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On 5th November 2022, we will be performing Mendelssohn’s famous oratorio, Elijah, at King Edward’s School in Edgbaston. This has particular significance for BFCS as it was 176 years ago, in 1846, that the choir gave the premier performance of this work, conducted by Mendelssohn himself, in the Town Hall, at the Birmingham Triennial Festival.

The Birmingham Triennial Festivals had started as early as 1768 and continued with festival choirs augmented by singers from other Midland cities and as far afield as London. Over time, Birmingham’s own choir increased in size and began presenting charity concerts, until in 1845 when the name Birmingham Festival Choral Society was first used.

At this time, Mendelssohn was enjoying huge popularity in England and already had a relationship with the Triennial Festival, having visited on two previous occasions to great acclaim. In 1845, the committee of the festival decided to ask Mendelssohn to conduct at the 1846 festival and whether he could provide an oratorio. Mendelssohn consented and worked to put the text for Elijah in its final form and in 1845 and 1846 composed his oratorio to the German and English texts in parallel.

Vast crowds thronged the streets for Mendelssohn’s arrival in Birmingham and on the morning of Wednesday 26 August 1846, Elijah was premiered at the Town Hall, with the composer conducting. There were close to 400 performers with an orchestra of 125 (mainly London players from the Philharmonic Society and the Opera) but with some local performers and a choir of 271 singers (with 63 from London).

The performance was a tremendous success. The Times newspaper wrote:

‘The last note of Elijah was drowned in a long-continued unanimous volley of plaudits, vociferous and deafening. It was as though enthusiasm, long-checked, had suddenly burst its bonds and filled the air with shouts of exultation. Mendelssohn, evidently overpowered, bowed his acknowledgements, and quickly descended from his position on the conductor’s rostrum; but he was compelled to appear again, amidst renewed cheers and huzzas. Never was there a more complete triumph – never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art.’

Mendelssohn himself wrote:

‘No work of mine ever went so admirably at its first performance, nor was received with such enthusiasm by both the musicians and the audience alike as this oratorio. No fewer than four choruses and four arias were encored!’

Sadly, Mendelssohn was only to return to England once more before his premature death in November 1847.

As you can appreciate, Elijah has always held a special place in our hearts at BFCS. Whilst we cannot promise a choir of 271 singers at our performance in November, you can be sure that we will do our very best to live up to the part we played in the proud history of this piece.

Elizabeth Vick, BFCS Archivist