Experience Mozart’s Majesty: Bucheon City Choir’s 178th Concert Featuring ‘C Minor Mass’ and ‘Vesperae Solennes de Confessore’

Mozart’s grand choral works — the Vesperae solennes de confessore and the Mass in C minor — headline the program.

The Bucheon City Choir will present its 178th regular concert, “Mozart: Mass in C minor,” at 7:30 p.m. on the 23rd at the Bucheon Arts Center Concert Hall. Principal conductor Kim Seon-ah will lead the performance. Soloists include soprano Lee Yoon-jung, alto Lee Eun-young, tenor Kim Hyo-jong and bass Kim I-sak, joined by the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra and organist Koo Min-ah.

Mozart composed the Vesperae solennes de confessore in 1780 for the Salzburg Cathedral liturgy; it comprises five psalms and a Magnificat.

The piece blends mixed choir, soloists and orchestra, showcasing Mozart’s typical balance and luminous energy in his sacred music. The fifth movement, “Laudate Dominum,” pairs a soprano solo with the choir and reveals Mozart’s distinctive devotional solemnity.

The Mass in C minor is a large-scale sacred work Mozart composed between 1782 and 1783. It is widely regarded as one of his most ambitious and musically profound religious compositions. Modern performances are based on restorations and completions of Mozart’s unfinished sketches.

The Mass combines operatic, showy solos with majestic choral writing; arias such as “Et incarnatus est” display Mozart’s refined skill for vocal writing. Its sweeping choruses, intricate counterpoint and dramatic progression convey a deep resonance where human feeling and spiritual exaltation meet.

A representative of the Bucheon Municipal Arts Troupe said, “Because it remains unfinished, the work leaves an even stronger impression. Audiences will encounter the essence of Mozart’s most human and majestic sacred music through the Bucheon City Choir’s sound.”