The Stanford Summer Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Summer Chorus will perform "Lobgesang" (Hymn of Praise), Felix Mendelssohn's epic "symphony-cantata", on July 31 and August 1 in Bing Concert Hall. Considered one of Mendelssohn's greatest works, it was the first symphony after Beethoven's 9th to combine orchestra and chorus. The soloists are sopranos Esther Tonea and Jennie Yukyung Byun and tenor Chance Jonas-O'Toole. Esther is a former Adler Fellow at SF Opera and winner of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Chance Jonas-O'Toole, a former member of the Merola Program at SF Opera, sang with Deutsche Oper Berlin for the past two seasons and is now back singing with SF Opera. Jennie Yukyung Byun is a prominent soprano soloist living the Bay Area. Conductor Paul Phillips is the Gretchen B. Kimball Director of Orchestra Studies at Stanford, where he also directs the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Philharmonia. The program opens with an overture by the remarkable British opera composer Ethel Smyth and a choral work, "Heavenly Home", arranged by Shawn Kirchner and conducted by Rafael Ornes.