Conductor seeks summertime singers

A Suffolk orchestra conductor is on the lookout for confident, experienced choral singers from all over Suffolk for a one-off celebratory event in August when most amateur choirs are having a break.

Conductor Leslie Olive (pictured above) wants 100 singers to perform alongside the fully professional Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra and four great soloists in a dramatised performance of Elijah, by Felix Mendelssohn. 

Elijah is the story of one man who continued to stand up for what he knew to be right even when everyone else turned against him.

The story, from the Bible, is about an actual person who lived around 900BC.

In the Bible story, Elijah never died. Instead, he was taken by “a fiery chariot” into heaven.

Felix Mendelssohn was a gifted composer who died at the age of just 38 having written some of the best-loved classical pieces of today, such as “Fingal’s Cave”, a musical picture of in island in the Hebrides.

Conductor Leslie Olive says: “This performance of Elijah will be one of the great highlights of my year.

“I just need 100 really good choral singers to give it enough punch.

“They need to be good because there are only five rehearsals.

“Anyone signing up won’t be alone because I already have 50 singers, so there are only 50 places left. 

“Anyone interested can find out all the details by going to www.suffolkphil.org/sing-elijah and signing up if they like the sound of it.

The concert is on Saturday, August 22, at 7pm at St Mary’s Church, in Bury St Edmunds.

Tickets to be in the audience for Elijah are available now from the website of the Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal: booking@theatreroyal.org

For further information please contact Leslie Olive leslie.olive@suffolkphil.org