The Temple Square Chorale and the Orchestra at Temple Square will present a joint spring concert entitled “Mozart & Mendelssohn” on Friday, March 17 and Saturday, March 18, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.  The concert will begin with the Orchestra performing Felix Mendelssohn’s Overture in C Major, op. 101.  The Chorale and Orchestra will then join forces to present the Great Mass in C Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The concerts will be led by Ryan Murphy, associate conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and conductor of the Temple Square Chorale. 

Overture in C Major, op.101 was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1826 at the age of sixteen, just before he wrote the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which the Orchestra at Temple Square performed in concert last year.  Some think the Overture in C Major was a preliminary study for the later work. 

Great Mass in C Minor was composed by Mozart in Vienna in 1782 and 1783 and was first performed in Salzburg on October 26, 1783.  The premiere fulfilled a vow he had made to write a mass to be performed when he brought his then fiancée Constanze to Salzburg as his wife.  Constanze sang the “Et incarnatus est” solo at its premiere.  The Great Mass in C Minor is a work in twelve movements which incorporates much but not all of the full liturgical mass. It conveys much of pomp and solemnity associated with the Salzburg musical traditions of the time and shows the influence of Bach and Handel, whose music Mozart was studying at the time. 

The Orchestra at Temple Square is an all-volunteer musical organization formed at the direction of Gordon B. Hinckley, then President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Its charter is to accompany the musical ensembles of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir organization and also to perform in concerts of its own.  The Temple Square Chorale was formed in 1999, and serves as a training ensemble for new members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  It is comprised of new members completing their audition process as well as those members who were new to the Choir the previous year plus a few other current Choir members to provide a complement of roughly 100 singers. 

Tickets are free, but required for this annual event. Beginning Tuesday, Tuesday, February 14, 2016 at 10 a.m. the tickets will be available by calling 801-570-0080 or visiting lds.org/events. Tickets are limited to four per person.  Admission to this event is limited to those ages eight and older. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. each evening, and concertgoers should be in their seats by 7:15 p.m.