Concert Program:
Britten Rejoice in the Lamb
Pärt Salve Regina
Pärt Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Haydn Missa in Angustiis (Lord Nelson Mass)

Soloists:
Katelyn Aungst, Soprano
Madelyn Wanner, Mezzo-soprano
Matt Hill, Tenor
James Shaffran, Bass
Todd Fickley, Organist

In the summer of 1798, Haydn composed arguably his greatest choral work against the backdrop of Napoleon’s campaigns in Syria and Egypt, and in an era beset by turmoil.  The composition’s name – Mass for Troubled Times– speaks to the uncertainty of the world in which Haydn lived and composed, while the piece itself spectacularly captures and conjures the chaos of the time. 

The concert is complemented by Britten’s jubilant cantata, Rejoice in the Lamb, based on the Christopher Smart poem depicting the praise and worship of God by all beings; and the Washington premiere of Pärt’s austere and otherworldly Salve Regina, commissioned in 2001 to commemorate the founding of Essen Abbey in 845.