Mendelssohn: Elias – Jubiläumskonzert - 40 Jahre Symphonischer Chor mit Matthias Janz

In the organizer's words:

40 years ago, the Hamburg Symphonic Choir gained a new conductor and musical director: Matthias Janz, Professor of Oratorio Design at the Lübeck University of Music. With this concert and one of his favorite works, they celebrate this successful collaboration together.

With his "Elijah", Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy wanted to give the old genre of oratorio a completely different, much more modern form. "I would prefer it if you took Elijah, divided the story into two or three parts and wrote it with choruses and arias, but with quite thick, strong, full choruses," he wrote to his friend Karl Klingemann. With the arias and the "thick, strong, full choruses" and, mind you, without narrator recitatives à la Bach passions, he wanted to tell the story mainly dramatically in dialog. And so it was, although it turned out that the libretto was ultimately written with Julius Schubring.

Mendelssohn gave the image of Elijah in the Old Testament, which is drawn rather like a woodcut, more emotional depth and turmoil; he wanted him to be "strong, zealous, even evil and angry and dark". He was particularly fascinated by the encounter with God on Mount Horeb and Elijah's ascension at the end. It is no coincidence that, in addition to the battle with the priests of Baal, these passages are also among the most impressive musical impressions to be heard in the oratorio. Mendelssohn ultimately never got around to writing an opera, but he came close with Elijah.

The 130-strong choir will be joined by its partner choir, the Flensburg Bach Choir, and several members of Coro Canto from Zurich. In the best tradition, Sønderjyllands Sinfonieorkester will accompany the choir. The top-class quartet of soloists completes a community of musicians that promises a brilliant evening.

Johanna Winkel, soprano
Wiebke Lehmkuhl, alto
Ilker Arcayürek, tenor
Jóhann Kristinsson, bass
Hamburg Symphonic Choir
Flensburg Bach Choir
Sønderjyllands Sinfonieorkester
Matthias Janz, Conductor