FRIDAY
DECEMBER 6, 2002 – 7 P.M.
Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul

The IIC sponsors Vox Ama Deus, directed by Valentin Radu with soloists Andrea Brown, Jody Kidwell, David Price, and Ed Bara performing Handel’s Messiah. Philadelphia’s only 1759 Covent Garden version performed on original Baroque instruments. A spectacular panorama of sound, poetry and emotion, Handel’s MESSIAH celebrates the Story of the Season. Bright trumpets, grand voices of choristers and dazzling soloists stir, awaken, excite and uplift. From haunting Shepard melodies to the great Hallelujah Chorus­ this is Christmas at its best. Sparkling. Entertaining. and Joyous.

The concert will be performed in the glorious setting of the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, build in brownstone between 1846 and 1864. The architects were Napoleon Le Brun, designer of the Academy of Music, and John Notman, architect of the Athenaeum, St. Clements, Church of the Holy Trinity, and St. Marks. Its Palladian facade and copper dome are in the Italian Renaissance manner, and the interior is spacious with magnificent proportions reminiscent of Roman churches. It was largely decorated by Constantino Brumidi (1805-90), who painted the dome of the Capitol in Washington. A baldachin over the main altar and the three altars on each of the side aisles point up this Italian Renaissance flavor. The Cathedral was modeled after the Lombard Church of St. Charles (San Carla al Corso) in Rome.

Click here for directions to the Cathedral

Ama Deus Ensemble
“Exhilirating” – Washington Post
 

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