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Beethoven's Missa Solemnis

London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas

Photo of Michael Tilson Thomas wearing a black suit and blue shirt

Michael Tilson Thomas conducts chorus and orchestra in the vast creation that Beethoven considered his greatest achievement – the Missa Solemnis.

During his final decade, Beethoven spent four years working on the Missa Solemnis, pouring his deep spiritual convictions into this commanding setting of the traditional Mass. It remains one of his most inspiring yet challenging works, with brilliant fugues and majestic, evocative choruses.

Michael Tilson Thomas has visited the Missa Solemnis frequently in recent years. ‘As in a cathedral,’ he says, ‘different chapels are dedicated to different spiritual territories. Some are majestic, some intimate, some symphonic or even operatic.’ Here, with the LSO and LSC, he brings the work to life once again, with the aim of illuminating this challenging masterpiece in new ways, ‘allowing us to better follow the streams of Beethoven’s thought’.

Soloist change
In a change to listings published when the 2017/18 season first went on sale, soprano Camilla Tilling will now sing in this performance, replacing Joélle Harvey.
Posted Wed 18 Oct 2017 12pm

LSO Sing is supported by Sir Siegmund Warburg's Voluntary Settlement, John S Cohen Foundation, Barnett & Sylvia Shine No 2 Charitable Trust, Slaughter and May Charitable Trust and LSO Friends.

Barbican Hall