Hallelujah! It’s a triple dose of Handel’s Messiah
Classical music
Hallelujah! Music fans in and around Hamilton, your triple dose of Handel’s “Messiah” is coming right up.
Alex Cann and the Bach Elgar Choir hold their annual “Messiah” this Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Melrose United, 86 Homewood Ave. Tickets are $35, senior (aged 60+) $30, student (25 and under with ID) $15, child under 12 free. Call 905-527-5995.
Then Boris Brott kicks off his annual back-to-back nights of “Messiah” with the first performance on Monday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Patrick’s Church, 440 King St. E., followed by a performance on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 715 Centre Rd., Waterdown. Tickets for both concerts are priced at $30, senior $26, Brott35 $25, student $15. Call 905-525-7664.
We know what you’re thinking. Why is it important for both the BEC and Brott to perform “Messiah” annually just prior to Christmas?
“There are certain works that have a power, an energy that continually speaks to me, that renews me emotionally and where I find something different to say musically,” Brott wrote in an email to The Spec. “They are always ‘fresh.’ It’s a religious thing — not any specific religion — with me. In the same way you read certain books or poetry over and over — like a child you know from memory exactly what’s on the page, but you have a thirst to read it anyway. ‘Messiah’ is one of those scores for me. There are others. Mahler’s ‘Fifth Symphony,’ for example, or Beethoven’s ‘Ninth.’ Performing them is ritualistic, maybe. But I do understand why people want to hear them again and again.”
“‘Messiah’ at Christmastime is important to a lot of people and Bach Elgar can serve that demand,” Cann wrote in an email. “It is an amazing work for its enduring popularity, and of course it is popular exactly because it is amazing. We generally sell out: people want their ‘Messiah’ and we enjoy performing it. ‘Messiah’ is performed at other times of year in other places, but in Canada it is firmly established as a Christmas tradition. Because we sing it every year, we are able to perform it on a minimum of rehearsals so it does not represent too significant a drain on company resources and energy.”
Ritual. Tradition. Microwaveable on minimal rehearsal. A sacred cash cow. “Messiah” is all of these. But which “Messiah,” pray tell? There are multiple versions by Handel since he continually adapted it to meet the circumstances of the vocal casts
at hand. Plus, you have Mozart’s 1789 rescoring, which Cann likes, and Sir Eugene Goossens’s 1959 re-orchestration, which Brott would like to take a stab at were the parts available to rent. So, what’s a conductor to do?
“I make cuts in every performance, not being a big believer in hard church pews past the twohour mark,” wrote Cann, who’ll be omitting some of the frequently cut choruses such as “But thanks be to God” and “Their sound is gone out,” but will be doing the entire alto air, “He was despised,” with the B-section “He gave His back to the smiters.” “Performing it every year with slightly different cuts keeps everyone
on their toes just a bit and gives the audience something new to chew on year to year. There is always something new to discover in this work.”
Brott dismissed any thought of transferring the alto air, “But who may abide the day of His coming,” to a bass soloist.
“There has been talk of gender bending,” wrote Brott. “I’m unconvinced.”
Cann’s soloists are Sheila Dietrich, Margaret Bardos, Cory Knight and Jeremy Ludwig.
The 60-voice BEC will be accompanied by a pick-up orchestra of 20 professionals with Krista Rhodes as the keyboard continuo player.
Brott’s soloists are Elizabeth Polese, Stephanie Yelovich, Bud Roach and John Fanning. They and Ron Beckett’s Arcady Singers will be accompanied by Brott’s 20-piece National Academy Orchestra with Ron Greidanus at the harpsichord and portative organ.
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Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul’s United, 29 Park St. W., Dundas, David Holler’s Chorus Hamilton presents traditional favourites plus Bach’s Christmas cantata “Gloria in excelsis Deo” with soprano Kasia Konstanty and accompanist Erika Reiman. Tickets: $25.
Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3 p.m. in the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, 440 Locust St., Shelly Hanson, music director candidate number two, leads Symphony on the Bay in “Christmas Delights” with selections by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Jennifer Higdon, Leroy Anderson and Irving Berlin. Flutist Sara Traficante solos in works by Chaminade and Vaughan Williams. Tickets: $43, ages 65+ $36.50, ages 16 to 24 $24.50, under 16 $12. Call 905-681-6000.
Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in Central Presbyterian, 165 Charlton Ave. W., Roger Bergs leads Central’s choir in a Candlelight Carol service with organ and brass. Freewill offering.