Nathaniel Dett - The Ordering of Moses

Coventry Cathedral is bringing R. Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses to the city on Saturday 31 October, at 7:30pm. It's a big one: the Coventry Cathedral Chorus joins forces with Divertimento and the Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir, which puts around 150 voices on stage, backed by the Leamington Sinfonia. The soloists are soprano April Koyejo-Audiger, mezzo-soprano Lufuno Ndou, tenor Christian Joel and bass Chuma Sijeqa, with Jim Bate and Michael Karcher-Young conducting.

The Ordering of Moses is the main event, but it's not the only thing on the bill. The programme also includes Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade in A Minor, the first movement of William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony, and songs for soprano by Undine Smith-Moore and Florence Price. It's a full evening of music, not just a single piece.

For a bit of background, R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) was one of the most important Black composers of the early twentieth century and a pioneer of African American classical music. Born in Canada and raised partly in the US, he was the first Black graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The Ordering of Moses, composed in the 1930s, is one of his greatest achievements: a large-scale oratorio that draws on the biblical story of Moses and the Exodus and incorporates the spiritual 'Go Down, Moses', fusing the traditions of European classical oratorio with African American spiritual music. The Exodus story held a particular resonance in African American culture, where it became an expression of hope, faith and resistance. This is only the second time the piece has been performed in the UK, and it closes Coventry Cathedral's Black History Month programme.

Tickets are £22.50, with a £5.00 concession. The concert is at Coventry Cathedral, Priory Street, CV1 5AB, starting at 7:30pm on Saturday 31 October.