South Florida Classical Review

Tyler Duncan sang the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Master Chorale of South Florida Saturday night in Boca Raton.

The rage, compassion, joy and despair of the Biblical prophet Elijah thundered from the stage of Lynn University in Boca Raton Saturday, in a magnificent performance by the Master Chorale of South Florida.

Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah portrays scenes from the life of the prophet who confronted followers of the pagan god Baal, endured persecution by the evil Queen Jezebel and helped guide the Israelites through times of hardship.

Under conductor and artistic director Brett Karlin, the soloists, chorus and Lynn Philharmonia instrumentalists vividly created the raw world of the Old Testament, where people depended on their god for life itself, there were no social safety nets, and if it didn’t rain, you didn’t eat.

Karlin drew a supple, nuanced performance from the mass of singers, with dramatic crescendos, moments of ethereal serenity and passages of power and grandeur. The Lynn Philharmonia gave a fine performance of the complex orchestral part, although there were some balancing issues with Mendelssohn’s intricate accompaniment, with its busy passages for violins, often getting covered up by the singers.

The part of Elijah is as demanding and dramatic as any operatic leading role. The baritone Tyler Duncan gave a committed, effective performance, with a gleaming voice that could express thunderous rage one moment and resigned despair the next. Although this was an oratorio, not an opera, it didn’t hurt that the bald, bearded, intense singer looked the part.

In the aria “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,” he sang with understated power, his voice ascending over dissonances in the orchestra. His performance of “Is not his word like a fire,” was a display of refined vocal violence, as he leaned hard into the embellishments on words like “hammer” that give the aria its force. In “For the mountains shall depart,” he sang with soaring serenity in an aria with strong echoes of Bach.

The performance was sung in English, perfectly appropriate for a work composed by Mendelssohn to both German and English texts and given its 1846 world premiere in the English city of Birmingham. The Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University appeared less than half full, but what may have been a disappointing turnout didn’t affect the vigor and gusto of the performances.

One of the work’s great episodes is the contest of fire on Mount Carmel, where both Elijah and the followers of Baal call on their gods to ignite a fire, and only Elijah’s god delivers.

Here Elijah reveals his sarcastic side, urging the Baal worshipers to call their god louder and suggesting he may be asleep, phrases which Duncan delivered in insinuating tones. Even though the followers of the pagan god Baal represented the wrong side in this Biblical dispute, Mendelssohn’s music and the chorus’ effective performance produced a moving, dramatic portrayal of their desperation and disappointment, a powerful expression of the oratorio’s humanity and compassion.

It’s rarely worth mentioning cell phone interruptions anymore, but the worst-timed one of the young music season may end up being the phone that rang during a dramatic silence in the contest of fire.

The duo roles taken by mezzo soprano Clara Osowski couldn’t have contrasted more. As an angel, she sang with solemn, rich-toned gravity in “Woe unto them who forsake him.” Then as the villainous Queen Jezebel, she snarled her plot against Elijah in a theatrically witchy performance. The soprano Robyn Marie Lamp brought haunting, polished tones to her aria “Hear ye, Israel.”

In the dual roles of King Ahab and Elijah’s ally Obadiah, the tenor Steven Soph gave a smooth performance that contrasted effectively with the prophet’s thunder. In the aria “If with all your hearts you truly seek me,” he sang with a refined, burnished tone and an edge of dramatic tension.

Mendelssohn’s Elijah will be repeated 4 p.m. Sunday at Lynn University’s Wold Performing Arts Center in Boca Raton. masterchoraleofsouthflorida.org

Posted in Performances

3 Responses to “Master Chorale, baritone deliver the Biblical fire and majesty of “Elijah””

1. Posted Nov 17, 2024 at 12:34 pm by Brian Boyle

   I almost chuckled when the phone rang during the chorus response to Elijah’s plea to “Call him Louder”

2. Posted Nov 17, 2024 at 9:27 pm by Barbara Burdick

   This was an outstanding edition of a great oratorio. The soloists were well-cast for the roles they portrayed. The conductor astutely led the chorus, orchestra and soloists in the dramatic flow of the action with appropriate tempos and dynamics. I was especially impressed with the depth of expression of Elijah.

3. Posted Nov 21, 2024 at 9:56 am by Jose

   I went to the 1st performance at Broward College Bailey Hall. It was exquisitely marvelous!!! Everything: chorus, soloists, orchestra. My second oratorio after the Christmas part of Handel’s Messiah couldn’t be better.

   It is a shame that not even half of the theater was full. This kind of event needs more promotion between young public, maybe it is a good idea to sell discounted price tickets as the event gets closer to allow more people to come.

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