oratorio

“Messiah,” an Easter oratorio beloved for Christmas, suggests Christ’s meaning rather than clearly tracing his life.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

The second program doubled down with the premiere of David Lang’s “the wealth of nations,” a 75-minute oratorio for orchestra, chorus and two soloists, here the inimitable mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and bass-baritone Davóne Tines.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026

Harry Bicket and the English Concert presented the composer’s highly theatrical but little-known 1745 oratorio in an uneven but frequently arresting performance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

Despite dealing with an oratorio, “The Choral” is more of a medley, briefly touching on one theme after another, but never convincingly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025

Handel even quotes from Carissimi’s Rorate Filii, Israel in his own oratorio Samson, composed a hundred years later.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

George Frideric Handel wrote some 42 operas across his career — his unstaged oratorios such as “Messiah” constitute a separate category — but Seattle Opera has presented only three of these to date.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 6, 2023

Wolfe’s other recent oratorios have been busy, multimedia presentations.

From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2022

Theodorakis wrote more than 200 popular songs, 10 symphonies, two oratorios, three ballets, a folk opera and the Olympic anthem, first performed at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

From Reuters ● Sep. 8, 2021

Franz Joseph Haydn: I wrote a hundred symphonies, and 50-some sonatas, Masses, oratorios, concertos and cantatas.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2020

A Child of Our Time intersperses quasi-operatic narrative passages with arrangements of African-American spirituals, as Bach had done with Lutheran hymn-chorales in his oratorios on the passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall