Pacific Symphony And Pacific Chorale to Perform Handel's Messiah In A Stirring Prelude To Christmas, December 3

Experience the awe-inspiring sounds of praise as Pacific Symphony joins forces with Pacific Chorale for the triumphant annual holiday celebration, "Handel's Glorious Messiah," commemorating the birth of Christ.

This timeless holiday tradition, celebrated worldwide for nearly three centuries, continues to evolve with each new conductor, orchestra, and ensemble of soloists, offering a fresh and invigorating experience. In the capable hands of Cuban-born and raised conductor Josette Justo Valdes, the Grammy Award-winning Pacific Chorale, and the Symphony, alongside soloists soprano Nola Richardson, countertenor Patrick Terry, tenor James Reese, and baritone Jesse Blumberg, Messiah comes alive. Brimming with brilliant choral writing, thunderous timpani, and resplendent trumpets, this performance will captivate and energize audiences, leaving them jubilantly echoing, "Hallelujah!"

Handel's masterpiece takes place on Sunday, Dec. 3, at 3 p.m., at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The concert is sponsored by Mark Chapin Johnson. Tickets start at $50. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.  

From the very beginning, listeners have found relevance in Messiah's extraordinary music and message, but this year, perhaps more than ever—with so many natural and unnatural disasters taking place across the nation and globe—the comforting beauty of Handel's glorious work serves to uplift and inspire. Although Handel, a native of Germany, was born in 1685, at the height of the Baroque era, the timeless quality of Messiah is one reason that the work has become by far the most popular oratorio in the world. Another reason, of course, is its stunning bounty of melody and drama.

Handel's Messiah was completed within 24 days, a stunning achievement for such an expansive work. The text was provided by Charles Jennens, drawn mainly from the biblical books of Isaiah and the gospel of St. Matthew. At the most basic level, Messiah is an adaptation in music of the biblical accounts of the birth of Christ, a religious story sung by a chorus and/or soloists accompanied by an orchestra and/or organ. But Handel's Messiah also serves as a conduit, a connection that reaches directly into the human heart. When Handel used his creative genius to combine the power of music with ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told,' history was made.

Handel was known as the “master of sacred and secular music,” and his talent of composing for voice and instruments shines in this most famous oratorio. With exceptional soloists, chorus, and orchestra, it is always a moving experience to tell the ancient story of Jesus' life, expressed in a most personal artistic statement by Handel, who had just recovered from a stroke when he set the words for Messiah to music; his gratitude for having regained his health again can perhaps be deeply felt in the music. His immense talent in this piece seems as if it is indeed divine inspiration, with a clear message of religion and exclamation of God's glory.

There are many accounts of this “divine inspiration” taking place as Handel worked on Messiah. In one, his assistant walked into the room where Handel was composing and supposedly found him in tears, pen in hand. When asked what was wrong, the composer replied, “I thought I saw the face of God.”

As the composer was creating Messiah, it's hard to imagine he could have foreseen the impact it would have over the centuries. This work has the great spiritual depth of a liturgical masterwork, but as Handel was also one of the most prominent opera composers of his time, it also contains the drama and excitement of a fascinating and thrilling story. It offers a uniquely moving experience as performers unite in one musical spirit. It's one reason so many return year after year to behold the transformative experience of Handel's glorious Messiah.

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