TOPSHAM — The Oratorio Chorale will open its 39th season with two concerts featuring the music of Schubert and Mozart.

Featured will be the Schubert Mass #6 in E flat, three motets by Mozart and “Eine kleine Nachtmusik.” The Chorale will perform with the Maine Chamber Ensemble, under the baton of director Peter Frewen. Solo roles in the Schubert piece will be performed by members of the Chorale.

Concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, at Orion Performing Arts Center; and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, at Sacred Heart Church in Yarmouth.

Franz Schubert’s Mass in E flat is one of a series created by the composer in his final years. In fact, the Mass wasn’t performed until a year after his death. In his musical notes, Frewen points out that Schubert was extremely prolific at this time. Besides the Mass, he also created an “enormous” symphony, a string quartet, three piano sonatas and more compositions.

The three motets by Mozart include the hymn “Sancta Maria” and “Misericordias Domini,” both composed when the young Mozart was at the court in Munich. Mozart, like Schubert, was quite productive during the final year of his life, 1791. Along with the “Requiem,” Mozart composed the “Ave Verum Corpus,” the third motet on the Oratorio’s program. Frewen describes it as “the perfect miniature.” Rounding out the Mozart portion of the program will be “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” composed in 1787.

Concert tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, students half price and children under 12 free. Tickets are available from Chorale member and at these venues: Longfellow Books and Starbird Music in Portland; Book Review in Falmouth; Clayton’s inYarmouth; Sherman’s Books & Stationery in Freeport; Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick; and Etc. Finery and Now You’re Cooking in Bath. For more information, call 798-7985 or visit www.oratoriochorale.org.

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