Mendelssohn’s Elijah is a ‘bigger than Ben Hur’ Biblical drama with a cast of hundreds. And Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is thrilled to bring it to you with operatic baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the title role and the 400-voice Festival Chorus filling the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

If you’re a fan of Handel oratorios, you’re in good company – so was Felix Mendelssohn. Elijah was his response to the English oratorio tradition, with its Old Testament story (earthquake! fire! and the ‘still small voice’) imagined for the concert hall. In its more reflective moments you can hear the worshipful influence of Bach. The result is a thrilling Romantic picture of a ‘grand and mighty prophet…borne on the wings of angels’, but it also conveys a very human drama with tremendous sympathy.