Seatavern

The Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town and the Symphony Choir of Johannesburg are proud to present Mendelssohn’s Elijah. This marks the fifth collaborative concert for the two choirs, and the final oratorio work that Richard Cock will conduct as director of the Symphony Choir.

After ten years of work by Mendelssohn on his masterpiece, Elijah premiered in Birmingham in 1846, The Times wrote “Never was there a more complete triumph – never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art”. Like most oratorios, Elijah is based on a Biblical story, this one from the Book of Kings. The prophet Elijah has predicted that God will send a punishment for those who worship the false God Baal: a drought. This includes King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. Once Elijah is proved right, he persuades people that they must repent, and kill Baal’s prophets. God rewards their faith with storm clouds and rain, but a furious Jezebel forces Elijah into exile. Hopeless and alone in the wilderness, Elijah is consoled by angels, and then, once he has weathered a storm, an earthquake and a fire, by God himself. His trials over, Elijah is taken to heaven in a fiery chariot, triumphant.

Richard Cock has a soft spot for Elijah, having first sung it when he was at school at Bishops. “I well remember being blown away by its power and the great drama of the story. I then prepared the Philharmonia Choir for the performance in 1972 when I was standing in for John Badminton when he was on sabbatical,” he says. “I have conducted it several times since, and I am still awed by the story and how it unfolds. The music is like a technicolour movie….only better. Come and experience it for yourself.”

In his own communication about the piece before its first performance, Mendelssohn stressed that its success rested on the strengths of the soloists, and “the untiring choirmaster”. The exceptional line up of soloists joining the choirs are Andiswa Makana (soprano), Conroy Scott (bass), Minette du Toit- Pearce (alto), and Lukhanyo Moyake (tenor). Meanwhile the untiring choirmasters Richard Cock and Richard Haigh are hard at work preparing the choirs for this exciting performance. The choirs share a long history of collaboration, from their 2014 collaboration on Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius to their most recent 2023 performance of Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. Richard Cock was also one of the founders of the Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town. The choirs will be joined by the Cape Town Festival Orchestra.

CONDUCTED BY Richard Cock

DATE 28 September 2025 15h00 VENUE Cape Town City Hall

SOLOISTS

Soprano Andiswa MakanaAlto Minette du Toit-PearceTenor Lukhanyo MoyakeBass Conroy Scott