The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
CHORUS READY FOR THE MESSIAH
Messiah Chorus to perform Dec. 2 at St. John Vianney
It’s astonishing for most people to learn that it took George Frideric Handel just 24 days to compose The Messiah, which tells the New Testament story in music of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Considered one of the most complex and difficult to perform chorale feats, the 2 ½-hour-long work debuted in London in 1748.
When it’s sung at 4 p.m., Dec. 2, by the 145-voice Messiah Chorus at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Mentor it will be the 70th year it’s been presented in Lake County.
Attendance, which is free and open to the public, signals the start of the Christmas season for many. The chorus sits in the middle of a fan-shaped area of the St. John Vianney sanctuary, which improves the listening experience for the audience.
“It just envelopes you in sound,” said Don Densmore, 86, a chorus member who has sung with the group for 61 years. “It gets better every year.”
This year he’ll bring Mary Alice Crandall, 99, to the Dec. 2 performance. She sang with the chorus for 69 years, including last year, but hasn’t been at rehearsals this year.
Because all singers must participate in the 2 ½-hourlong rehearsals every Sunday from October on, it’s no light commitment. Add to
that the fact that many chorus members also sing with choirs at their own churches, so they have those rehearsal schedules to fit into an already busy season.
Beth Trice of Madison returns to the chorus this year after being away for several years. She sung the Messiah for 24 years and this year her 12-year-old son, Christian, also is singing The Messiah.
“I’m so glad to be back,” she said. Both are tenors. “My sister and I used to sing in the chorus every year but she moved to Akron a few years ago,” Trice said. “I missed singing with my sister and was so glad when Christian expressed an interest in the Messiah. I’m really enjoying working and singing with him.”
Trice claims to be a perfectionist but is trying hard to sit back so her son can sing and enjoy the music’s message. “I want him to love it as I do,” she said.
“I just need to be sure I follow the director,” she said. “I don’t want a solo when one is not written there.”
She and other chorus members are big admirers of Kevin Donahue, who has directed the Messiah for eight years. Before that he sang in the chorus as a tenor.
Donahue is the musical director at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Concord Township and is simultaneously putting together its Christmas musical programs while juggling the Messiah Chorus and his full-time day job.
“I’m now preparing the choir at St. Gabriel for Christmas Eve, midnight and Christmas Day masses,” he said. “We also do an 11 p.m. Christmas Eve Candlelight Carols sing-along for an hour. We have a brass quartet, piano, organ, harps, flute and oboe as well.”
Singers for the annual Messiah Chorus come from all faiths and walks of life, many of them commuting great distances to take part.
Roberta Whitely, longtime keyboard player for the presentation, would come from Cincinnati for seven years to play for the Messiah Chorus. She’d been returning to Lake County annually since accepting the choir director position at Cincinnati’s St. Timothy Church. But this year her holiday commitments grew and she won’t make the long commute.
She’s been replaced as keyboardist by Beth Singer, choral director for Perry High School.
Singer will play a daunting 52 pieces during all 2 ½ hours.
“I played the Messiah the first time in college 30 years ago, so when Kevin called and asked if I could do it this year, I was glad to help,” she said. “As we rehearse, each week is more comfortable than the week before.”
Voice is her first instrument so she enjoys accompanying the vocalists on the piano.
“Accompanying is equal parts following and leading,” she said. “We also have a 10-string orchestra and other instruments and will have just one rehearsal with all of them.”
Despite Whitely’s long reign as keyboardist, chorus members have made Singer feel welcome and she’s realized that she recognizes many of them from other performances. Like many of them, she has a busy holiday season ahead, directing holiday concerts for Perry school choirs from fifth through twelfth grades.
“I’m also a volunteer musician at my church and fill in as organist when I am needed,” she said. “It’s a very busy time of year.”
For all of those in the Messiah Chorus, the production is more an act of worship than a performance, Donahue said.
Thanks to Brunner Sanden Deitrick Funeral Home and Cremation Center, the Eastlake-based WINT Radio 101.5 FM and 1330 AM will air the chorus and its Handel’s Messiah from 1 to 4 p.m. on Christmas Day.