Messiah Radio Broadcast on Classical WSMR 89.1 & 103.9
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From the Risers: Encountering Messiah
by Brian Hathaway
G.F. Handel’s Messiah has remained a perennial favorite, primarily performed around the Christmas Season. My own personal connection with Messiah began many years ago, culminating in a performance of the complete work in December 2019 with The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and The Florida Orchestra.
The Florida Orchestra & The Master Chorale performing Handel's "Messiah", December 2019 - Idlewild Baptist Church, Lutz
MORE PHOTOS BELOW
My journey to Messiah
It all started with Ruth Passenger way back in the late 1950’s. I was a student at Roessleville Elementary School in Colonie, NY just west of Albany. Miss Passenger was our music teacher and I remember attending her classes which were held in the school cafeteria, as there was no space for a dedicated Music Room. Instruction materials included a roll away blackboard, textbooks and a portable record player, which back then were called Victrolas, even if they were not made by RCA Victor.
I still can clearly see Miss Passenger in my mind’s eye. What I remember most about her was her love of music and her desire to connect us with the beauty inherent in great music. I can still remember a pivotal moment when she played a recording of “The Swan”, from Camille Saint-Seans’ Carnival of the Animals. I was awestruck. Although I can’t clearly remember when it happened, I am sure she also introduced us to some of the choruses from Handel’s Messiah, most certainly “For Unto Us a Child is Born” and the “Hallelujah Chorus”.
Miss Passenger must have detected a spark within me. She encouraged me to study an instrument (Violin) and to join the school chorus. When I was in sixth grade, I was one of three or four students representing Roessleville Elementary selected to sing in the Suburban Council Honor Chorus. I still remember the music festival concert that we performed in and can still name the song titles we sang.
Following elementary school, I took music classes in Junior High, but did not join chorus, as extra-curricular activities were more difficult to attend, with junior high school being farther away. I recall about that time my parents bought a console TV that had an AM-FM radio built in. The FM band was something new, and in listening to it, I found a classical station, WFLY in Troy. Now, here was an opportunity to hear more of the music that Miss Passenger introduced me to. I remember that I was seen by my friends as someone different, because they would talk about Rock and Roll, and I would chime in talking about Mozart or Beethoven. Don’t get me wrong. I liked Rock and Roll but hearing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony piqued my interest quite a bit more than Elvis.
As I was starting to enter high school, my parents decided to invest in a Stereo and a shopping mall was built just a half mile from my home with the first R. H. Macy store outside of NYC. Now, I could invest in vinyl and listen to the music I wanted to when I wanted to. Macy’s had a decent sized record department and as I perused the shelves, one album stood out over all the others. It was Handel’s Messiah, a Columbia double LP by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I had to have it! I plunked down my hard-earned cash for my first purchase of a classical album and couldn’t wait to play it on our new stereo. I listened to that album repeatedly and dove into the cover notes to learn all I could about this marvelous work. I treasure that album and still have it stored away with my vinyl LP’s.
Messiah became one of my favorite classical works and I always pulled it out for listening, particularly during the Christmas and Easter Seasons. High school, then college came and went, then marriage, four years in the Air Force and raising a young family. Although I always sang in church, I did not have time to pursue other musical activities until I joined The Master Chorale.
Joining The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay
| Several of my singing colleagues sang with The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, and they encouraged me to consider joining the ensemble, and in 2007 I auditioned and was invited to join. During Master Chorale concerts we sang selected choruses from Messiah, but the opportunities to sing all the choruses didn’t present itself until 2019. Along the way, we sang selected choruses during a performance with The Florida Orchestra in 2017. During that same year, I had an opportunity to sing the Christmas portion of Messiah with the Lakeland Choral Society and The Imperial Symphony. When I saw Messiah on The Florida Orchestra schedule for December 2019, my hopes went up, especially after I learned that three of the four concerts would be “full roster” concerts encompassing all the available singers in The Master Chorale. | Upcoming AuditionsAugust, 2020 Sign-up Online |
Prepare Handel's Messiah in five weeks... GO!
The challenge we were faced with was a reduced amount of time to prepare the Chorale for the Messiah performances, with only five weeks to prepare after finishing our November concert series with Eric Whitacre and The Florida Orchestra. This was the shortest preparation time I had seen for a major work with the Chorale. Most of the cadences allowed for about 8 weeks of preparation time. Even though we had a lot of new singers, I was buoyed by the knowledge that many of our members had repeated exposure to Messiah, and these folks would provide the foundation to support the ensemble’s task of mastering the music. I also felt confident in Brett Karlin, our Artistic Director, who was passionate about early music and Messiah in particular.
Three Rehearsals, Four Concerts, Five Venues, Over Seven Days... right before Christmas.
Christmas preparations always create a hectic time, and this year was no exception. Because we were performing Messiah on four different days, we had to start our concert rehearsals on Monday instead of Tuesday. This meant that we would be singing every day for seven days. I called it the “Messiah Marathon”. When concert week arrived, our first task was the piano dress rehearsal with Florida Orchestra Director Michael Francis. We engaged in selective reviews of each chorus with Maestro Francis applying his practiced ear to the defining segments of each chorus, helping us shape the sound to bring out the best combination of our voices to combine with the orchestra. By 9:30 PM we had completed the rehearsal. Now it was “game on” with the orchestra and then dress rehearsal with the soloists and the orchestra. It was with a sense of confidence that we proceeded on to our four performances. We were ready!
Most Memorable Moments
With the "Messiah Marathon" now over after three rehearsals and four performances in seven days, it was probably the best concert series I experienced in my 13 years with The Master Chorale and The Florida Orchestra. We had standing ovations, whoops and cheers after every performance. In the discussions I had with concert-goers after each performance, I heard words like “superlative”, “best ever”, and “amazing”. The soloists were all just outstanding. Some of my most memorable moments:
- Tenor Matthew White's entrance of "Comfort ye" following the orchestra's overture. It was like a "voice crying in the wilderness".
- Mezzo Allyson McHardy singing "Behold a virgin shall conceive", with her voice just silky smooth setting the stage for the chorus "O Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion".
- Baritone John Brancy entering the stage "in character", glaring at the orchestra and audience before launching into "Why do the nations rage". He told me backstage that it was his favorite part of Messiah.
- Soprano Helene Brunet absolutely radiant while singing "I know that my redeemer liveth". I told her backstage it melted my heart when she sang it.
- Principal Trumpet Robert Smith absolutely owning the instrument while playing "The Trumpet shall sound".
- Concertmaster Jeff Multer's flawless playing of the violin accompaniment to Helene Brunet's singing in "If God be for us".
- The Master Chorale singing "Since by man came death" especially the pianissimo a capella entrance at the beginning.
- Maestro Michael Francis' constant visual feedback to us in the choir as we adapted to changing acoustics in each venue and the joy he showed on his face as we made wonderful music together.
- The Florida Orchestra's demonstrated musicality throughout the entire performance. It was pure pleasure seeing and hearing them play. What a joy it is to work with them!
Thank you so much to Brett Karlin and all in The Master Chorale who prepared this monumental work in just five weeks. Over 60 years ago when I first heard music from Messiah emanating from that little Victrola in Miss Passenger’s music class, I never dreamed that I would participate in performing it in front of literally thousands of people, helping to bring Handel’s sacred oratorio to life in concert halls and churches. The joy and wonder I saw on the faces of audience members and kudos I heard following each concert are memories that I will always cherish.
Listen to the broadcast of this concert on April 12 beginning at 2pm on Classical WSMR 89.1 & 103.9, stream online at wsmr.org.
