Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society and Bishop’s Stortford Sinfonia to perform Handel’s Israel in Egypt on Saturday March 23

Hot on the heels of their sell-out winter concert featuring Beethoven’s Choral Symphony No. 9, Bishop’s Stortford Choral Society (BSCS) is partnering with the Bishop’s Stortford Sinfonia again this March, writes Helen Miller.

They will perform one of George Frideric Handel’s most brilliant oratorios, which tells in breath-taking musical detail the Biblical story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.

First performed at the King's Theatre on Haymarket on April 4, 1739, Israel in Egypt is a vividly imagined choral illustration of the plagues of Egypt – the frogs, locusts, flies and hailstones – followed by the crossing of the Red Sea, the waves parted by Moses and the ultimate destruction by drowning of the Pharaoh’s troops.

“This is a marvellous narrative work full of drama and musical complexity,” says BSCS musical director Richard Brain. “And one of its most appealing characteristics is that so much of the oratorio is carried by the chorus rather than by soloists.

“The choir have really taken to the work and are sounding on terrific form.”

The concert takes place on Saturday March 23 at 7.30pm at Bishop’s Stortford Methodist Church in South Street. Tickets are £17 (students and under-16s free). See www.singwithbscs.org.uk to book.

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