85th Messiah in finest form
The night was foggy, but the sound was crisp and clear inside First Pentecostal Church in North Little Rock on Thursday as the Arkansas Choral Society performed portions of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah, as it’s done for 85 years in a row.
What are people’s points of entry into this classic, perennially performed piece of music?
For some, it must be tradition, like watching It’s a Wonderful Life every year. (For some, like the baby who was angelically silent until intermission, there was no choice in the matter.)
Some have a loved one up there, maybe in the University of Arkansas at Monticello Concert Choir or Arkansas Symphony Orchestra members who augmented the ensemble’s sound. Some must have sung it in school or church choirs (they’re the ones straightening up in their seats and unconsciously humming along with a favorite part).
Maybe it’s the beauty of Scripture set to music, the arc of the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and predicted return, the meditative reverie induced by repetition, like a precursor of Taize worship (“the trumpet shall sound, and we shall be changed, and we shall be changed, and we shall be changed”).
Maybe it’s the chance to hear some fine soloists — this year, soprano Suzanne Banister, alto Diana Salesky, tenor Sergio Cepeda and baritone Scott Bearden. Maybe it’s the invitation to sing along with the wellknown “Hallelujah” chorus (an invitation that few audience members took advantage of).
For closet conductors who keep a baton at home, maybe it’s watching Kent Skinner, music director of the Choral Society and director of choral activities at UA-Monticello, in his energetic conducting.
Whatever magnet attracts people to this music, the Choral Society delivers what they’re looking for.
The concert will be repeated 7:30 p.m. today at the UA-Monticello Fine Arts Center. Tickets are $15, $10 for children 3-11 (plus service charges for tickets bought online), free for children under 3. More information can be found at (870) 460-1060 or searkconcert.org.