Two Classical Gems

The Fairfield County Chorale kicks off its 60th season with a thrilling concert on December 11th in Norwalk Concert Hall featuring two masters of sacred choral music – Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Mozart wrote the Solemn Vespers, also known as Vesperae solennes de confessore, in 1780 during the brief period that he served as court organizer to the Archbishop of Salzburg. Despite having been composed within the creative restrictions of Mozart’s then employer, the piece – which follows the typical Vespers format of five psalms followed by a Magnificat – is a triumph of exuberant and energetic musical imagination.

Haydn composed the Missa in Angustiis (A Mass for Troubled Times), later known as the Lord Nelson Mass, in 1798, a period of particular political turmoil in Europe as Napoleon battled across Austria, his armies trained on Vienna. The day of the Missa’s inaugural performance, Lord Horatio Nelson and the British Army dealt Napoleon a resounding defeat at the Battle of the Nile. Two years later, Nelson attended a performance of the Missa conducted by Haydn himself.

The 80-member Fairfield County Chorale, led by Maestro David Rosenmeyer, will be joined by soprano Samarie Alicea, mezzo-soprano Veronica Pollicino, Tenor Alexei Kuznietsov, bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca, and the Fairfield County Chorale Orchestra.

125 East Ave
Connecticut 06851
United States