Rochester Oratorio Society Opens 80th Anniversary Season with Mass in Blue

October 8, 2025
Mass in Blue by Will Todd, Fanfare for a Festival by Ron Nelson, Psalm 150 by Jeff Tyzik

Success is 80 years in the making for the Rochester Oratorio Society [ROS]. The organization kicks off its anniversary season with Mass in Blue. The celebratory 80th season opening concert features music by Rochester composers and a jazz mass new to the region, performed by a 150-voice chorus, a professional orchestra, and nationally renowned soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper.

“Our 80th anniversary season celebrates our treasured members, great works by Rochester composers, and the entire community that supports us. The music is all thrilling to sing and to hear,” says ROS Artistic Director Eric Townell.

Ron Nelson’s brilliant “Fanfare for a Festival” for brass, percussion, and the full chorus opens the program. Nelson earned three composition degrees at the Eastman School of Music, and his music was commissioned by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

RPO Principal Pops Conductor and 2025 Rochester Music Hall of Fame Inductee, Jeff Tyzik’s important early work, “Psalm 150,” also for brass, percussion, and chorus, was commissioned and premiered by the ROS for its 60th anniversary two decades ago. Tyzik has revised and updated the work for this occasion.

To close, ROS offers the local premiere of “Mass in Blue,” a globally popular, upbeat jazz setting of the Latin Mass text for soprano soloist and chorus, by UK composer Will Todd. Rochester-based jazz musicians join the ROS Orchestra in this first-ever performance of the piece by ROS and the first in the region.

Star Soprano Sarah Joyce Cooper is an award-winning soprano known for what has been described as her “passionate power” and “meltingly beautiful” singing.
 

Event Details

October 17, 2025
7:30 PM
Hochstein Performance Hall
50 N Plymouth Ave, Rochester, NY 14614

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