A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Handel's Messiah, the choral work that has been a hit for almost 300 years, will once more resound here on December 4 with the Gisborne Choral Society, organist Roy Tankersley and a galaxy of solo singers.
Wellington's Lija Crichton, who delighted the audience in last year's Mozart Requiem, will takethe tenor solos before filling the same role the following weekend with the NZSO in the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington.
Other singers include Esther Hudson, Shelley Anne Avisenis, Alex Raines, Erin Small, Catherine Macdonald, Elizabeth Raines, Alyx Findlay, Mary-Jane Richmond, Serena Foster and choir conductor Gavin Maclean.
Roy Tankersley, well known nationally and to Gisborne audiences, will translate the orchestra parts into a symphony of flying hands and feet on the Holy Trinity organ.
The Messiah was written in a frenzy of enthusiasm by George Frideric Handel in just over three weeks, in which he produced this masterpiece, which remains the most popular of choral works after 280 years.
By turns tub-thumping, thrilling, heart-rending and meditating, it is a miracle of melodies, choral and orchestral effects, and variety.
The climaxes, such as the Hallelujah chorus, The Trumpet shall Sound, and the extraordinary four-minute-long final Amen, are augmented by trumpets and timpani. These will be played by Per Elzen and Waiora Paul-Utiera, with Amanda Maclean on timpani.
Some cuts have to be made from the original three-hour work. The Gisborne concert will be under two hours long.
