Elijah | 20th Anniversary of the NFM Choir and Wrocław Baroque Orchestra

One of the opening events of the 2026/2027 season at NFM is a performance of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's opus magnum - the oratorio Elijah. The NFM Choir and Wrocław Baroque Orchestra will perform, both celebrating their twentieth anniversary - both ensembles were founded by maestro Andrzej Kosendiak. David Reiland will take the conductor's podium, stepping in for the permanent artistic directors of both ensembles: Lionel Sow and Jarosław Thiel.

Elijah is a masterpiece of Protestant oratorio composition, first performed in August 1846 in Birmingham. Mendelssohn worked on it for ten years, drawing from the tradition of Bach's Passions and Handel's oratorios. The work consists of recitatives, arias, choruses, and several dramatized scenes, with its plot - divided into two parts - encompassing the biblical story of the prophet from the Books of Kings: the drought, feeding by ravens, the resurrection of the widow's son, the contest with the prophets of Baal, the flight before Queen Jezebel, and the ascension in a fiery chariot. The librettist also drew from other passages of Scripture, particularly the Psalms. The Times critic summed up the premiere with the words: "never was there a more complete triumph".

Program: F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy - Elijah, oratorio op. 70 (with intermission, duration: 170 minutes)

Performers:
David Reiland - conductor
Giulia Semenzato - soprano
TBA - mezzo-soprano
Robin Tritschler - tenor
TBA - bass
NFM Choir (artistic direction: Lionel Sow)
Wrocław Baroque Orchestra (artistic direction: Jarosław Thiel)