On Saturday 29th April 2023, UK Parliament Choir and Southbank Sinfonia will perform Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius in the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls. This choral masterpiece has hardly ever been performed in Rome. This performance will bring together a choir of 300 voices, a semi chorus, soloists and a symphony orchestra performing to an audience including distinguished guests of the Vatican, the UK Parliament and the British Embassies to the Holy See and to Italy.
The oratorio, written in 1900 by Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934), is a setting of a poem by St John Henry Newman (1801-1890). It relates the journey of a pious man’s soul from his deathbed to his judgement before God and into Purgatory. Newman was canonised in October 2019 and this performance will be an opportunity to celebrate his life and work.
The performance is by kind invitation of H.E. Cardinal James Harvey, Archpriest of St Paul’s, H.E. Dom Donato Ogliari, OSB, Abbot of the Abbey of St, Paul’s and H.E. Christopher Trott (British Ambassador to the Holy See). It is presented in collaboration with and with the patronage of the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra.
All performers are delighted to be playing a part in providing living witness to Newman’s great text and to introduce Elgar’s masterpiece to the Vatican community. The weekend is also an opportunity to strengthen inter-parliamentary links and relationships between the UK, the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
