Rising star soloists join Sheffield Oratorio Chorus concert

Sheffield Oratorio Chorus' spring concert offers the city's music-lovers a rare treat – the chance to hear four of tomorrow's vocal stars at the threshold of their careers.
By Julia Armstrong
Published 7th Mar 2019, 22:24 BST
Updated 7th Mar 2019, 22:33 BST
Alan Eost conducting the Sheffield Oratorio ChorusAlan Eost conducting the Sheffield Oratorio Chorus
Alan Eost conducting the Sheffield Oratorio Chorus

Soloists in the performance of Mozart's Requiem and Handel's The Ways of Zion on March 16 are all students at the Royal College of Music or Royal Academy of Music, chosen for their outstanding promise for a scheme that encourages specially selected choral societies to showcase their talents.

Sheffield Oratorio Chorus has been linked to the Josephine Baker Trust at the RCM and RAM since 2017. In 2017, soprano Milly Forrest was working part-time as a cloakroom attendant at London's Wigmore Hall and was asked at a couple of days' notice to stand in for a sick soprano in a sold-out recital there.

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The line-up of distinguished artists included the SOC's vice-president, Elizabeth Watts. Milly's Cinderella debut earned plaudits from the critics and national newspaper headlines. Joining Milly in Sheffield Cathedral will be three other exceptional young singers: mezzo-soprano Amy Shaw, tenor Peter Harris and bass James Atkinson.

Sheffield Oratorio Chorus and Skipton Camerata will be conducted by the choir's director of music, Alan Eost. Mozart's final work, his moving, exuberant, austere Requiem in D Minor, has been swathed in mystery and conjecture since he struggled to complete the score before his early death, aged 35, in 1791. The second work in the programme is George Frideric Handel's 1737 funeral anthem for Queen Caroline, The Ways of Zion Do Mourn.

The Queen had been a good friend as well as patron to Handel.

Tickets are available online at www.oratorio.org.uk, from the Blue Moon Café or on the door.