Monday 7 May 2012 at 7:30pm
Sherborne Abbey

Sherborne Festival Chorus
with Chameleon Arts Orchestra
Soprano Claire Seaton
Mezzo-soprano Janet Shell
Tenor James Atherton
Bass Paul Charrier
Clarinet Richard Hosford
Conductor Paul Ellis
Haydn        Te Deum in C major
Mozart       Clarinet Concerto
                    Mass in C Minor (Great)
Works by two composers who between them represent the essence of the Classical period make up this year’s annual performance by the Sherborne Festival Chorus.  
One of the gems of the choral repertoire, Mozart’s Mass in C minor was written in the main after he moved to Vienna in 1781 and contains some of his finest choral writing, including  an exquisite setting of Et incarnatus est, written for his new wife Constanze, who sang the solos at its first performance. The Clarinet Concerto is one of the great works composed in the final years of Mozart’s short life. Written for his clarinettist friend Anton Stadler, it is one of Mozart’s most popular works. Richard Hosford is Principal Clarinet of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and well known to local audiences as a member of the Gaudier Ensemble. Haydn’s Te Deum in C was written a few years after Mozart’s death, in 1799, during the period other great choral works such as The Creation and the six late masses were written, and completes this programme of great Classical works.