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

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

The composer struts in during a rehearsal, uncorks an embarrassingly stagey speech about his life and views, and forbids Guthrie from putting his modern spin on the oratorio.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025

In 1889, the enormous popularity in Britain of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah caused George Bernard Shaw to lampoon its Sunday-school sentimentalities and its Music-school ornamentalities’.

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

Staging oratorios in the opera house is nearly routine nowadays, especially those by Handel; for every “Agrippina,” you’re likely to get a “Messiah” too.

From New York Times ● Jul. 16, 2023

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