Philharmonia showcases Mozart and Haydn Masses

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Fresh off the back of their sold-out Messiah concerts, and their performance alongside Andrea Bocelli on his recent tour, the Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town are pleased to bring audiences two distinctive choral masses. The concert will feature Mozart’s celebratory Coronation Mass (Mass in C) and Haydn’s dramatic Nelson Mass.

The Coronation Mass, composed in 1779, during Mozart’s time as composer for Salzburg Cathedral, is one of the most popular of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 17 settings of the Ordinary Mass. The mass acquired the nickname Coronation Mass at the Imperial court in Vienna in the early nineteenth century, after becoming the preferred music for royal and imperial coronations.

Written in 1798, towards the end of Haydn’s life, the Nelson Mass is seen as one of the crowning achievements of his career. Although Haydn was at the height of his powers, the world was in chaos, with Napoleon waging war across Europe. When Haydn finished this mass, his own title was Missa in angustiis (Mass for troubled times). What Haydn did not know when he wrote the mass, but what he and his audiences soon learned, was that Nelson had delivered a crushing defeat to the French forces, and so the mass gradually acquired the nickname Nelson Mass.

Audiences can also look forward to an orchestral piece, Haydn's L'isola disabitata overture, often likened to a miniature symphony and perfect example of his Sturm und Drang style.

The concert will be conducted by the esteemed Daniel Boico and will showcase the talents of the choir’s frequent collaborators, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Four exceptional soloists will join the choir and orchestra: Soprano Brittany Smith, Alto Jacobi de Villiers, Tenor Lukhanyo Moyake, and Bass Conroy Scott.

CONDUCTED BY Daniel Boico

DATE 21 June 2025 19h30   

VENUE Cape Town City Hall

SOLOISTS

Soprano Brittany Smith

Alto Jacobi de Villiers

Tenor Lukhanyo Moyake

Bass Conroy Scott

DIRECTIONS