Franz Joseph Haydn's The Creation: The English Concert, Christ Church Choir and Frideswide Voices

Christ Church: Five Centuries of Music 1525-2025
Find a full listing of festival events at Christ Church here: Music at Oxford.

This inaugural concert in the festival celebrating 500 years of music at Christ Church will feature:

• The English Concert
• Christ Church Cathedral Choir
• Frideswide Voices
• Carolyn Sampson soprano
• William Balkwill tenor
• Thomas Humphreys bass
• Peter Holder conductor

Haydn was inspired to write The Creation after hearing large-scale performances of Handel’s oratorios during his visits to London in the 1790s. The first performance in London was in 1800, a year after its public premiere in Vienna. The libretto is based on an anonymous English poem about the creation of the world and was published with both German and English texts.

This performance, sung in English, is supported by The Friends of Christ Church Cathedral in memory of Elizabeth Harrison.