Handel – Messiah

Handel – Messiah (Our first Messiah since 1999)

Messiah is a mainstay of the choral repertoire, packed with brilliant solos and choruses, including the famous Hallelujah Chorus, with its somewhat bizarre tradition that the audience should stand for the duration of the chorus! (We will not be enforcing this, but anyone who feels the urge to rise from their seat in honour of the moment should feel free to do so.)

Our soloists are four talented professional singers. We are delighted to welcome back soprano Erica Eloff and mezzo-soprano Catherine King, both singing with us for the third time. Most memorably, Erica Eloff sang the title role in our 2008 performance of Handel’s Theodora, while Catherine King stole the show in our Mozart concert earlier this year. Leading baroque tenor Joseph Cornwell also sang with us in Theodora. Last, but not least, we welcome for the first time the up-and-coming young baritone, Alexander Robin Baker.

In this traditional, large-scale performance of Messiah, Southampton Philharmonic Choir will be joined by the students of Southampton University Philharmonic Choir, giving a combined choir of about 160 singers.

The orchestra will be the New London Sinfonia, a superb professional symphony orchestra that regularly performs with us. The concert will be conducted by our inspirational musical director, David Gibson.