Bach’s B Minor Mass at Keble College, Oxford

In mid-August I joined The Really Big Chorus to sing the solos in Bach’s Mass in B Minor at Keble College, Oxford. This was the culmination of a week of the summer school TRBC was running there, where singers learn to sing one of Bach’s greatest works from scratch. It was a glorious setting and acoustic for a very spirited performance, and it has long been one of my very favourite oratorio works in which to sing the alto solos. The duets with the soprano are playful, the two voices bouncing off one another to create a huge sense of joy. The movement Qui sedes ad dexteram patris has winding, lively melismas but with a doleful quality to its lines, and the Agnus Dei is a soaring, heart-breaking aria, pleading for mercy just before the final chorus. The Agnus has been one of my very favourite arias from the moment I discovered it.

It was a great pleasure to sing under the baton of Brian Kay and to sing with the St. Cecilia Players.