A showdown of biblical proportions is about to take place on the stage at the Centennial Concert Hall.

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra will be performing Mendelssohn's Elijah this weekend.

An all-star cast has been brought together to bring the Old Testament story of the prophet Elijah and the showdown against Ba'al's prophets on Mount Carmel to life. 

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"To have the humanness and the prophet-ness, if that's a word," conductor Dr. Elroy Friesen jokes, "of Elijah depicted so purposefully and in such a raw way, it especially came to a head when I was working with Greg Dahl, who is playing Elijah, and we were just digging into the various emotions that Elijah has to go through in this. He starts as the powerful prophet who calls a curse on the Israelites and it's no rain for three years.

"An hour later in the music, he is completely in despair, he's dejected, he wants to die, he's asking God 'just take me now, I'm done, I'm not doing any more for you.' It's actually full out rebellion and despair and depression and just to see the journey of this human prophet, who we've often put on a pedestal, and to see that his struggles are my struggles and are your struggles is really human. Mendelssohn and Elijah himself have taught me a lot about life over this last year. It's going to be a striking unified, powerful performance. It doesn't happen every day that we get to do this work with such a great set of musicians."

The performance takes places Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25.