Abbey Choir Thrills with Festival Performance
Friday, 19th May 2017
Westminster Abbey was full on the evening of Tuesday 16th May for a performance of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor by the Choir of the Abbey and the period instrument ensemble St James’ Baroque under the direction of the Abbey’s Organist and Master of the Choristers, James O’Donnell. All the solo arias were sung by choristers and lay vicars of the Abbey Choir.
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said:
The concert, which was part of the London Festival of Baroque Music, was thrilling. It seemed as if the musicians themselves were enjoying almost as much as the capacity audience the work of J.S. Bach. It is extraordinary to think in this half-millennium of Martin Luther’s Reformation that this greatest of all composers – himself a Lutheran Christian – should have written a Latin Mass never performed in his lifetime. I found myself imagining that heaven rejoiced as much as we did in the Abbey.
Rehearsal Video
Earlier this week, Classic FM visited the Abbey to film behind the scenes as the Choir rehearsed for the concert.
