The Creation

The Chatham Chorale and guest musicians will breathe new life into Franz Joseph Haydn’s great oratorio The Creation in performances on Saturday, April 22 at 7 pm, and Sunday, April 23 at 3 pm.

“This is one of the true cornerstones of the choral repertoire, and it hasn’t been heard on Cape Cod for several years,” says Music Director Joseph Marchio, who leads the assembled forces in these concerts. “We’re fortunate to have three outstanding vocalists for the demanding solo roles, and a full complement of superb instrumentalists to play Haydn’s brilliant score.”

“The Creation” unfolds in three parts. In the first two, the archangels Gabriel (soprano), Uriah (tenor), and Raphael (baritone) describe the six days of creation in recitative and aria, while the “heavenly host” (the chorus) joins in with jubilant hymns of praise. “When the chorus bursts forth on ‘Let there be light!’ it’s one of the great moments in all of music,” says Marchio.

Part Three portrays the first morning in Eden, with Adam (the baritone again) and Eve (soprano) celebrating God’s work and their love for each other. Again the chorus provides commentary, and the climactic choruses, says one writer, “deploy Haydn’s ripest symphonic and contrapuntal mastery with a freedom, variety, and sheer brilliance of effect … obviously inspired by Handel’s example.”

Eve and the angel Gabriel are voiced by soprano Joan Kirchner, well known on the Cape and environs as a soloist, voice teacher, and organist, and for her special expertise in the early music realm. Joan has sung with Toronto’s Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society A frequent guest artist with the Chorale, she has been called “a singer possessed of sensitive musical intelligence and charm of presentation.” Boston-based tenor Jason McStoots (the angel Uriah) has appeared with the Cape Symphony, Boston Lyric Opera, and the