Events

Elgar’s oratorio includes some of his most deeply felt music, sumptuously scored and plumbing every emotion from anguish to elation. 

Elgar considered The Dream of Gerontius to be his finest work. In setting Cardinal Newman’s poem, which charts a soul’s journey to judgement, Elgar summoned all his creative powers to compose an oratorio of Wagnerian scope and beauty.

The opening Prelude alone is Elgar at his most heart-rending. As Gerontius dies and makes his way to the afterlife, we’re plunged into a world of angels and demons, depicted by choruses and arias in music of startling originality. The final, peaceful ‘Angel’s Farewell’ is a breath-taking, exquisite moment of Elgarian genius.