The Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town is excited to announce its upcoming concert featuring two iconic choral works. The performance will take place on Saturday, 21 June, at 19h30 at the Cape Town City Hall.
Fresh off the back of our sold out Messiah concerts, and 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 angustis (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.
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.
DATE: 21 June 2025
VENUE: Cape Town City Hall
START TIME: 19:30
ORCHESTRA: Cape Philharmonic Orchestra
CONDUCTOR: Daniel Boico
SOLOISTS:
Soprano – BRITTANY SMITH
Alto – JACOBI DE VILLIERS
Tenor- LUKHANYO MOYAKE
Bass – CONROY SCOTT
PROGRAMME:
Overture to L’Isola Disabitata – J. Haydn
Mozart Coronation Mass
Interval (30 Minutes)
Haydn Nelson Mass
Secure parking is available ONLY on the Grand Parade, at the City Hall end, where there will be guards with dogs.
No Disabled access to Balcony and Bays (upstairs).
Wheelchair access to City Hall and Stalls (downstairs).
Tickets available at Quicket