BRUNSWICK – The Oratorio Chorale’s new season will open with a Mozart celebration at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, in the Orion Performing Arts Center, Topsham, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 21, in Sacred Heart Church on Main Street, Yarmouth.

For its fall concert, the chorale has programmed sacred classics of the oratorio literature. Music Director Peter Frewen has chosen two sparkling early works of Mozart: his Solemn Vespers and Coronation Mass.

“This is Mozart in his early maturity. He’s bursting with energy, but no longer just the wunderkind. He’s developed an amazing versatility with instruments and voices,” Frewen said. “He employs an emerging maturity of rhythmic and harmonic control to channel his exuberant flow of musical ideas into rich and satisfying forms.”

The Solemn Vespers is a setting of six Latin texts used for evening services. The emotional quality varies from the secure faith of structured canonic form to the thrilling lyricism of the glorious soprano solo “Laud ate Dominum.” Mozart seasons the flow of sound with dramatic changes in dynamic and with touches of darkness and dissonance. The result is a vital and moving experience, to perform or to hear.

Mozart’s Coronation Mass exemplifies the Mass form used in Prague during the time (1779), a hybrid preferred by the archbishop. Its use of wind instruments suggests a “solemn Mass,” and its length suggests a “short Mass.” It therefore has both a grand ceremonial setting and a compact structure.

The solo parts will be performed by eight members of the Oratorio Chorale: soprano Jeannie Giberson, tenor David Purcell, alto Karen Topp, soprano Ruby Shields-Morse, tenor Robby Haines, bass John Adams, alto Rebecca Economos, and bass Mark Hays.

The chorale will be joined by instrumentalists of the Maine Chamber Ensemble.

For more information, people can visit the Oratorio Chorale’s Web site, www.oratoriochorale.org, or call 725-1420.

Tickets for the chorale’s fall concert are $15 in advance and $17.50 at the door. Group discounts are available and student tickets are half price. Children under 12 are admitted free. Tickets are available at Mason Street Mercantile, Bath; MacBeans Music, Brunswick; Clayton’s, Yarmouth; Starbird Music, Portland; Books Etc., Falmouth; by mail, or from chorale members.

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