Preview - North London Chorus at St Mary Brookfield on December 10
Published: 8 December, 2011
by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
THE Nelson Mass, arguably Haydn’s greatest single composition, is being sung on Saturday by the North London Chorus at St Mary Brookfield in Dartmouth Park.
Written in 1798 at a time when Napoleon’s army had been winning battles all over Europe, it was originally titled Missa in Angustiis or “Mass for Troubled Times”.
But just as the mass was being performed, news of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile arrived in Vienna. Afterwards, the mass gradually acquired its nickname, particularly when Nelson visited Vienna two years later in 1800.
The mass has some of Haydn’s most dramatic and glorious music, the solo soprano role being highly virtuosic.
Taking on the challenge will be local singer Emily Phillips, born and brought up in north London.
She was a sixth-form music scholar at South Hampstead High School where she took part in numerous choral and solo competitions.
She recently graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music in Drama in Cardiff and currently works for Artis Education and is an associate artist for Glyndebourne Education.
She’s sung lots of solo roles all over the place – including Servilia in Hampstead Garden Opera’s excellent Clemency of Titus last year, also at Arcola Theatre’s annual Grimeborn Opera Festival.
The concert will host the premiere of Carol of the Ship, a new Christmas carol written for the choir by north London composer Philip Godfrey.
Two years ago, the choir premiered his new Christmas Cantata.
Traditionally, the concert is notable for eager audience participation in singing carols.
Indeed, when the choir’s Christmas concert was held in All Hallows, Gospel Oak, there were reports that the carols could be heard at the top of Kyte Hill.