In our annual Spring Benefit Concert in which we raise funds to support our season’s beneficiary, we are excited to present the Washington DC premiere of a magnificent oratorio composed by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, the brilliant older sister of Felix Mendelssohn. This work, “Oratorium nach Bildern der Bibel,” was only discovered in 2000. Hensel was a wonderful composer in her own right who, owing to the conventions of the day, was unable to have her music performed publicly. We promise you will be amazed and uplifted by this great work! We are pairing this with a lesser known but nonetheless stunning cantata of the master, JS Bach, called “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben” (BWV 147).