Mendelssohn Elijah

Ealing Choral Society

Elijah was composed for the Birmingham Festival of 1846, just a year before Mendelssohn’s early death. It is a work of tremendous dramatic scope, chronicling episodes in the life of the Old Testament prophet Elijah – including the contest of the gods, the miracle of raising the dead, the bringing of rain to a parched Israel and his ascension on a fiery chariot into heaven.

Mendelssohn was much influenced by the oratorios of Handel and the great choral works of J.S. Bach. In combining these elements with 19th-century Romanticism and drama, he created in Elijah a choral masterpiece that has enduring appeal to singers and audiences alike.

Sinfonia Britannica
Elizabeth Atherton soprano
Rebecca Afonwy-Jones mezzo-soprano
Ben Johnson tenor
Gavan Ring bass
Thomas Blunt conductor