The Salisbury Musical Society, with the Chelsea Opera Group Orchestra and David Halls, perform Beethoven's Mass in C and three choral works by Brahms.
Salisbury Musical Society are back at Salisbury Cathedral on Saturday 6 March 2027, with a programme that pairs Beethoven's Mass in C with three works by Brahms. They're joined by the Chelsea Opera Group Orchestra, conducted by David Halls, with Eleanor Dennis on soprano, Claudia Huckle on contralto, Gwilym Bowen on tenor, and James Cleverton on baritone.
The Mass in C is the main event, and the Society describes it as one of classical music's best-kept secrets. Beethoven broke with convention here, pushing past the traditional boundaries of the classical mass to give the choir a role of expressive range and dramatic weight rather than a purely ceremonial one. It didn't always land: the man who commissioned it in 1807, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II, rejected it, and the work fell into obscurity for a long time.
The Brahms pieces are equally evocative. Song of Destiny is one of his most moving choral works, inspired by Hölderlin's image of humanity 'tossed from rock to rock like water'. Alto Rhapsody is a piece about sadness, loneliness and the discovery of hope, scored for alto, men's chorus and orchestra. The Society has been bringing choral music to the city since 1923, specialising in major classical works performed in the Cathedral.
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It runs from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Salisbury Cathedral, 6 The Close, SP1 2EJ. Tickets are £40 for the front nave, £25 for the rear nave, £20 for the sides of the stage, and £10 for the side aisles, which are unreserved with restricted views. Wheelchair users and their carers are also £10. There's a 50% discount on rear nave seats for accompanied under-18s and students with ID, using the code JuniorB&B-mar2027.
