One legendary conductor, over two nights, brings three towering masterpieces of Western sacred music to life
Revered as one of the world’s greatest interpreters of the Baroque and Classical repertoires, Sir John Eliot Gardiner has set the benchmark for the way contemporary concertgoers hear this music today.
The first programme unites two of Mozart’s most profound sacred masterpieces. His famously unfinished Requiem—a setting of the Catholic Mass for the Dead that was uncompleted at the time of the composer’s death at the age of 35. Operatic in scale, it ranges from a thunderous vision of Judgment Day to contemplative music that evokes a community weeping in collective sorrow. Alongside it stands the radiant Great Mass in C minor. Though it, too, was left unfinished, the score’s majestic breadth, virtuosic arias and choral splendour reveal Mozart at the height of his powers. At its Salzburg premiere, the demanding soprano solos were sung by Mozart’s wife Constanze, whose voice inspired some of the music’s most virtuosic and heartfelt passages.
Mozart drew inspiration from the intricately layered musical language of Bach—and that mastery was never more fully realised than in the Mass in B minor, which makes up the second programme. Composed and compiled near the end of Bach’s life, it distils decades of artistic vision into a single monumental statement. Though never performed in full during the composer’s life, its scale and splendour rival those of the world’s great cathedrals, blending soaring choral settings with intimate solo movements.
Promising uplifting evenings of revelation and sheer sonic brilliance, these two concerts by Sir John Eliot Gardiner and The Constellation Choir & Orchestra are not to be missed.
Tickets are available for purchase from 9 December 2025 at URBTIX
