Vivaldi: Gloria and Gjeilo: Sunrise Mass

Voxcetera chamber choir present two joyous works to welcome spring.

There is much joyful baroque music out there, but none surpasses Vivaldi’s popular Gloria for sheer exuberant happiness. And yet it’s full of variety, from slow and tender to delightfully effervescent, the choir accompanied by a sprightly arrangement of strings, oboe and trumpet.

The New York-based Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo loves film music and in his thrilling, transcendental Sunrise Mass he pays tribute to its high emotions, adrenaline, drama and sense of wonder. Scored for choir and strings and using traditional Latin texts, the 30-minute Sunrise Mass is strong on melody and rich in harmony, opening with gorgeous shimmering chords that emerge magically out of silence. It’s unmistakably modern, but it’s also in touch with early sacred music of many centuries ago.

A licensed bar will be open before the performance and during the interval.