Published: 01 August 2011
Category: Artists

Paul McCreesh returns to the BBC Proms on August 28 to conduct Mendelssohn’s Elijah. His Gabrieli Consort & Players will be joined by a distinguished cast of soloists: Simon Keenlyside in the title role, alongside Rosemary Joshua, Sarah Connolly and Robert Murray.

For this large-scale oratorio, the Gabrieli Consort will be joined by the Wrocław Philharmonic Choir (Poland) and some 180 members of four youth choirs from across the UK: the Chetham’s Chamber Choir, North East Youth Chorale, Taplow Youth Choir and Ulster Youth Chamber Choir. This marks the culmination of the Gabrieli Young Singers’ Scheme in 2011, which gives opportunities for young people to engage with choral repertoire and to perform it at the highest standards.

McCreesh’s performance of Haydn’s Creation at the BBC Proms in 2009 was an enormous success:

“Paul McCreesh was always bold, but taking Haydn's Creation by the scruff of its neck was an exploit that takes some beating...”
Michael Church, The Independent, five stars, July 2009

Now re-examining Mendelssohn’s Elijah, McCreesh will bring together 400 musicians to recreate the massed forces of the oratorio’s first performance.

This project will then be recorded to be released on Paul McCreesh’s own new record label, Winged Lion. The label will release recordings by the Gabrieli Consort & Players and by the Wratislavia Cantans Festival, of which McCreesh is Artistic Director. Distributed and manufactured by Signum Classics, the first release – due in September – will be another large-scale work, Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts, recorded last year at St Mary Magdalene Polish National Catholic Church in Wrocław and featuring 400 musicians from the Gabrieli Consort & Players, the Wrocław Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra and Chetham’s School of Music. Future recording plans are Haydn’s The Seasons (in Paul McCreesh’s own translation) and Britten’s War Requiem.

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