The Judgment of Paris

Libretto: William Congreve
Music: John Weldon, one time Organist of New College, Oxford

Conductor: Luke Mitchell

New College Chapel
5 June 2024
8.00 pm

Tickets available from: Ticketsource

Will Anderson –
Mercury, messenger of the gods
John Johnston –
Paris, a shepherd
Jemima Price –
Juno, goddess of marriage 
Joanna Barrett –
Pallas, goddess of war
Jessica Edgar –
Venus, goddess of love

In 1700, a group of nobles put up a ‘Musick Prize’ by offering through the pages of the London Gazette of 18 March: First prize was 100 guineas, second 50, third 30, and fourth 20, and the task was to set a new libretto, a masque, The Judgment of Paris, written for the occasion by William Congreve. John Weldon was one of four known entrants, the others being John Eccles, Daniel Purcell and Gottfried Finger. The works were performed singly and then together on one evening when the competition was run; the Prize was won by Weldon, Organist of New College, Oxford, much to the chagrin of most involved, with vague accusations of incompetence and corruption circling around the decision.In the masque, Mercury appears to the Shepherd Paris with the Golden Apple of Discord and asks him to award it to the Goddess for whom he has the most regard. The goddesses – Juno, Pallas, and Venus – all sing to him, presenting a future in each of their respective spheres, worldly power, war, and beauty. Pallas, seduced by Venus, awards it to her.

Conductor: Luke Mitchell
Producer: Michael Burden

New College Ante-Chapel
15 & 16 November 2023 
8:30PM

£15/£7 concession – Tickets are available from Ticketsource

Saul and the Witch of Endor is a short intense warning against witchcraft. Saul, king of the Israelites, consults the fortune-telling witch of Endor on whether he will lose a forthcoming battle. Saul loses the battle, but shortly before he was to be killed, he throws himself on his sword. 

The Witch of Endor – Jemima Price
Saul – William Anderson 
Samuel – Crawford Wiley

Actéon is a short chamber opera telling the famous mythical story of Actéon, who is transformed into stag by Diana as revenge for him seeing her bathing; he is then killed by his own hounds. 

Actéon – Matt Pope 
Diane – Jessica Edgar 

Chasseurs
Rosanna Milner, Felicity Howard, Maurice Cole, Raphaël Maurin, Maxim Fielder 

Nymphs
Ischia Gooda (Artethuse), Harriet Twigger-Ross (Daphné), Vertiy Sawbridge (Hyale), Joshua Dennis

Carissimi: Jepthe; Charpentier: Le reinement de saint pierre.

Conductor: Luke Mitchell

New College Chapel
8.00pm
7 June 2023
£12/£5 concession – Tickets are available from Ticketsource

The concert presents two short oratorios of the 17th century by Carissimi (Jephte) and his student Charpentier. These are framed by two extraordinary works by De Lalande, written for the funerals of Louis XIV’s children. These ‘grands motets’, settings of the De Profundis and Dies Irae as requiems, draw on rich orchestration and choral forces to deliver some of the richest choral music of the baroque, achieving beauty and devastation in majesty, as the oratorio works do in their sparse biblical tragedy.

Leonard Bernstein, Trouble in Tahiti

Conductor: Jamie Andrews
Director: Michael Burden

Ante-chapel, New College
8.30pm
2 & 3 March 2023
£15/£7 concessions from https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/

Cast

Sam – Jake Sternberg
Dinah – Melissa Talbot
Trio – Ellie Stamp, Edward Beswick, Ben Gilchrist

Leonard Bernstein’s short opera, Trouble in Tahiti, comes between two bigger works, his 1944 On the Town and Candide of 1956. Described as ‘a candid portrait of the troubled marriage of a young suburban couple’, it tells the story of Sam and Dinah, who are trapped in a suburban, middle-class, consumerist world, desiring love and intimacy, but achieving only marital discord.

The title is from an escapist movie, ‘Trouble in Tahiti’, which Dinah goes to see during the afternoon; in the evening, when they fail to address their marital difficulties, the only solution is to go to cinema – where they see ‘Trouble in Tahiti’. The couple are backed by a static trio, fulfilling the role of a Greek chorus and the score, which draws on songs, jazz rhythms and other popular idioms, is dedicated to Marc Blitzstein.

Pergolesi, Stabat Mater; Vivaldi, Nisi Dominus
Conductor: Luke Mitchell
4 March 2023

Ante-chapel, New College
8.30pm
4 March 2023
£12/£5 concessions from https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/

Soloists
Maryam Wocial – soprano
Austin Haynes – countertenor

Pergolei’s Stabat Mater of 1736 is one of the best-known 18th-century sacred works. Written by Pergolesi for the Confraternita dei Cavalieri di San Luigi di Palazzo and was one of his last works; he is said to have died just after completing the composition. The work gained considerable attention almost immediately and it circulated widely in printed editions. The Nisi Dominus is a setting of the Latin text of Psalm 127, the title coming from the first two words of psalm text. It was written in the early 1700s for the Ospedale della Pietà, suggesting that although it has been much recorded by with both women and men as soloists, a female voice was probably Vivaldi’s original intention. The score has been described as having the ‘greatest poise and delicacy’.