SNU Choral Society and Orchestra present Haydn’s Creation Mass

James Tunnel, Staff Writer 

On Thursday, April 24th, at Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene, the Southern Nazarene University Choral Society and Orchestra will be putting on their final event of the semester, a performance of one of Joseph Haydn’s final masses, “The Creation Mass.” Haydn wrote this piece as a celebration of the newly created world, as seen through the book of Genesis, as well as Milton’s Paradise Lost. Though the piece was written when he was 70 years old, it is one of the finest examples of Haydn’s distinct style.

The Choral Society is a combination of the SNU Choral, University Singers and Concert Choir. These groups perform together occasionally to tackle larger choral pieces, which recently include Mendelssohn’s Elijah,Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.

The performance will include a full orchestra and a 75 member choir, as well as 4 soloists. The soloists are Professor Rebekah Ambrosini, the head of the voice faculty at SNU, Professor Jeffrey Ambrosini, her husband (and voice teacher), Professor Andrea Hanson, a world renowned opera singer and voice teacher at SNU (as well as  Miss Oklahoma 1973), and Les Flanagan, an Australian singer and voice teacher who now calls Norman home. The audience will also be treated to a Beethoven Piano Concerto, which will be played by Dr. Mark Reighard on piano, accompanied by the Orchestra.

The event will be led by SNU’s Director of Choral Activities, Jim Graves, and he promises that the performances will both “dazzle and impress.” The performance begins at 7:30, and a map to Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene is available at SNU’s College of Music Events page.