Home » Handel's Messiah (Sat)
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Jean-Marie Zeitouni returns to conduct the ESO's annual performance of Handel's Messiah. Featuring four young singers making their ESO debut and two of Edmonton's finest chamber choirs, this is truly one of the world's most cherished works of faith and inspiration.
(A) Dress Circle Adult $79 / Student & Senior $69
(B) Terrace Adult $69 / Student & Senior $58
(C) Orchestra Adult $58 / Student & Senior $49
(D) Upper Circle Adult $49 / Student & Senior $36
(E) Gallery Adult $36 / Student & Senior $30
(F) Orchestra Front Adult $20 / Student & Senior $20
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Youth/Child (aged 3 - 17): All tickets $20
Tickets subject to applicable service charges.
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We will be collecting food bank donations at all ESO Christmas concerts. Please remember the less fortunate and bring your non-perishable food donations as you celebrate the season with us!
The next ESO Special performance features the Canadian Tenors on December 7, 2009.
Program Information
Program
Handel: Messiah (120’)*
First Part
1. Overture
2. Recitative: Comfort ye, my people
3. Air: Ev’ry valley shall be exalted
4. Chorus: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
5. Recitative: Thus saith the Lord of hosts
6. Air: But who may abide the day of His coming?
7. Chorus: And He shall purify
Recitative: Behold, a virgin shall conceive
8. Air: O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion
9. Recitative: For behold, darkness shall cover the earth
10. Air: The people that walked in darkness
11. Chorus: For unto us a Child is born
12. Pifa: Pastoral Symphony
Recitative: There were shepherds abiding in the field
13. Recitative: And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them
Recitative: And the angel said unto them, Fear not
14. Recitative: And suddenly there was with the angel
15. Chorus: Glory to God in the highest
16. Air: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion
Recitative: Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened
17. Air: He shall feed His flock like a shepherd
18. Chorus: His yoke is easy, His burden is light
Intermission
Second Part
19. Chorus: Behold the Lamb of God
20. Air: He was despised and rejected of men
21. Chorus: Surely He hath borne our griefs
22. Chorus: And with His stripes we are healed
23. Chorus: All we like sheep have gone astray
24. Recitative: All they that see Him laugh him to scorn
25. Chorus: He trusted in God that He would deliver Him
26. Recitative: Thy rebuke hath broken His heart
27. Air: Behold, and see if there be any sorrow
28. Recitative: He was cut off
29. Air: But thous didst not leave
30. Chorus: Lift up your heads, O ye gates
33. Chorus: The Lord gave the world
34. Air: How beautiful are the feet of them
36. Air: Why do the nations so furiously rage together?
37. Chorus: Let us break
Recitative: He that dwelleth in heaven
38. Air: Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron
39. Chorus: Hallelujah
Third Part
40. Air: I know that my Redeemer liveth
41. Chorus: Since by man came death
42. Recitative: Behold, I tell you a mystery
43. Air: The trumpet shall sound
47. Chorus: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
Chorus: Amen
*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program Notes
Messiah, HWV 56
George Frideric Handel
(b. Halle, 1685 / d. London, 1759)
George Frideric Handel first came to England in 1712, just for a visit. Even then, before Handel had settled in England permanently some years later as the favourite court composer, those already established in British musical circles derided the large German man’s manners and thick accent. But it was a rejection born largely of jealousy. As a musician, Handel was head and shoulders above the best the English had to offer their own citizens, especially since the 1695 death of Henry Purcell.
Seven years before Handel came to London, composer Thomas Clayton had attempted to found an Italian operatic tradition in England with a work called Arsinoe. It enjoyed some success, but once Handel eclipsed all others as the master of Italian opera in London, Clayton became an outspoken critic of the whole notion of foreign-language operas for English audiences.
This did not stop Handel, and many successes came his way, as did acclaim from both the general public and the royal court. But baroque opera, as a form, began sinking under the weight of its own excesses by the 1730s, and Handel’s fortunes waned as a result. As shrewd a businessman as he was a supreme musician, Handel saw in the oratorio form the next wave in popularity.
Like opera, oratorio involves soloists, chorus and orchestra. There is often a story related in the text of oratorio. But while operas of the day leaned more toward classical themes and stories, more uplifting, religious, Biblical stories were thought more appropriate to oratorio. Another key difference between the two forms was language; oratorios were usually sung in the native tongue, and thus were perhaps more accessible to a wider, more middle class audience than Italian opera. In short order, Handel showed a deft hand at English oratorio, with Deborah (1733), Saul (1738), Israel in Egypt (1739), and by 1741, he had once again secured his place at the vanguard of British musical life.
It was librettist Charles Jennens who presented Handel with a collection of texts from the Bible, and Messiah was composed, in a blinding flash of creativity, in only 25 days. Newman Flower wrote at the time that, “Handel was unconscious of the world” while the German-born master was writing what would prove to be the greatest oratorio ever written. Jennens, however, seemed unimpressed. “His Messiah had disappointed me, being set in great haste, tho’ he said he would be a year about it, and make it the best of all his Compositions,” wrote Jennens. “I shall put no more Sacred works into his hands, thus to be abus’d.” One wonders, parenthetically, how many other librettists would give their eye teeth to have their words “abus’d” in such a manner! It is also worth noting that Jennens’ comments were made before he had heard the work, and his words softened quite a bit after. He and Handel collaborated on other oratorios (Saul, L’Allegro and Belshazzar), and they re-established good terms with each other.
Handel must have sensed the potential hit he had on his hands, and the canny marketer in him helped drum up publicity before Messiah’s official debut. Handel staged a public dress rehearsal of Messiah – a move that generated such tremendous anticipation and publicity that hundreds were turned away from the official debut performance on April 13, 1742. Of those that were able to attend, the ladies were asked to remove the hoops from their gowns, and gentlemen were asked not to wear their swords, to accommodate the crush of people.
It was in Dublin that Messiah was first staged. Handel had been invited there by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Devonshire, along with the governors of three Irish charitable societies. And while that first performance was a well-attended affair, Messiah was not a hit from the outset. It would, in fact, take a decade or so of London-based performances for the work to acquire the popularity it has subsequently never relinquished.
As an example of the oratorio form, Messiah stands a bit apart from many of its fellows. There are no “character” parts sung by the soloists, and in fact there is, beyond some description of the birth of Christ in Part I, and His Passion in Part II, no story told in the music – there is no narrative line, as such. Perhaps part of the reason for this was the controversy that might have been stirred up if no less than the Lord was made a “character” part. Indeed, enough grumblings were made about the fact that so sacred a subject was performed in a theatre, as opposed to a church.
Those complaints died down in a few years, as the work won greater acceptance. By 1750, Messiah was an unqualified success. Handel himself oversaw no less than 36 performances of it before his death in 1759. This fact has led to some difficulties in pinning down an absolutely authentic version of the work – an impossible task actually, since Handel had no difficulty adapting the work for the needs of particular singers, available instrumentation, and even just to make improvements as he saw fit.
Part I of Messiah deals with the prophecies of the coming of both Christ and John the Baptist, taken mostly from the Old Testament books of Isaiah and Malachi. The Christmas story as recounted in Luke comes complete with an exquisite instrumental pastorale, in true baroque Christmas concerto style, leading to a hopeful conclusion with the beautiful and tender aria He shall feed His flock and the buoyant choral fugue His yoke is easy.
Part II begins dramatically with the dark chorus Behold the Lamb of God. From there, the Passion of Christ is told starkly, though not with texts taken directly from the gospels, but rather as anticipated in Isaiah and the Psalms. An account of the glory of God climaxes in the rousing Hallelujah, with words taken from the Book of Revelation. It was an early performance of Messiah, attended by King George II, that began the tradition of rising for this chorus. So taken was he by the music, the King stood, and when he did, everyone else did out of respect. We’ve been doing it since.
The actual resurrection of Christ seems almost skimmed over in Part II, but in Messiah’s Part III, the resurrection is meditated upon in great detail, beginning with the beautiful I know that my Redeemer liveth. Judgement day is looked for in the tense Why do the nations so furiously rage together? and the grand The trumpet shall sound. With appropriate choral flourish, Messiah closes with the declamatory Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and another grand fugue on the word “Amen.”
Program Notes © 2009 D.T. Baker
Program notes © 2009 by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and its respective annotators. All Rights Reserved. Program notes may not be printed in their entirety without the written consent of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; excerpts may be quoted if due acknowledgment is given to the author and to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. For reprint permission, contact D.T. Baker, Music Resource, by email, dave.baker@winspearcentre.com.
These notes appear in galley files prepared for Signature magazine, official publication of the ESO, and may contain typographical or other errors, or may differ from the final print version. Programs and artists subject to change without notice.
Artist Information
Jean-Marie Zeitouni has emerged as one of Canada’s brightest young conductors. His association with Les Violons du Roy goes back seven years, first as Conductor in Residence and since 2004 as Associate Conductor. His recent CD with the ensemble, titled "Piazzolla," garnered a JUNO Award in 2007. The current season is another landmark year for the conductor with a long list of subscription debuts and return engagements. 2008/09 was one of Mr. Zeitouni’s most impressive seasons yet. He appeared with numerous major orchestras, including the Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony and the symphonies of San Antonio, Oregon, and Omaha. He also led several opera productions from the pit, among them Lucia de Lammermoor by Donizetti at Cincinnati Opera, Faust at Calgary Opera and Mozart’s Il re pastore with Opera Theatre of St. Louis.
During the 2007/08 season, Jean-Marie Zeitouni debuted with the Edmonton Opera in a production of Carmen. He gave his debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and returned to the Festival Lanaudière with both the Montréal Symphony and Les Violons du Roy. As part of his 2006/07 season, he conducted the highly anticipated world premiere of John Estacio and John Murrell’s Frobisher at Calgary Opera in a co-production with The Banff Centre. and he made his long-awaited debut with Glimmerglass Opera. Prior to his commitments with Les Violons du Roy and l’Opera de Montréal, he was music director of a wide array of smaller ensembles and choirs. He was also director of the orchestra and opera workshop of the Faculty of Music at Laval University, the choir director of the Québec Symphony Orchestra and the chorus master at l’Opéra de Québec. Mr. Zeitouni graduated from the Montréal Conservatory in conducting, percussion and theory. He studied with Raffi Armenian.
Mr. Zeitouni last conducted the ESO in December 2007. He returns this season on January 22 & 23, 2010 for Ode to Joy, and Schubert's Unfinished Symphony on January 27.
Canadian soprano Hélène Guilmette graduated in piano and music education from Laval University in Québec and studied voice with Marlena Malas in New York. In 2002, she won Third Prize at the Voix Nouvelles competition in Paris and Second Prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Competition in Belgium in 2004. Over the years, she has obtained numerous concerts engagements in Canada, but also in France, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Australia, the U.S., and South America. On the operatic stage, she was Sophie (Werther) in Lille, Strasbourg, and at La Monnaie in Brussels, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) also in Brussels, Pedro (Don Quichotte) in Tokyo, and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Lille and in Paris Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She also made her debut at Paris Opera in the role of Mélisande in Ariane et Barbe Bleue by Dukas, and in Pina Baush’s production of Gluck’s Orpheo and Eurydice (Amour).
Upcoming engagements include a new production of Les Dialogues des Carmélites (Constance) at München Bayerische Staatsoper under the direction of Kent Nagano, in Toronto’s COC and also in Nice, Ariane et Barbe Bleue (Mélisande) at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Orpheo and Eurydice (Eurydice) in Nantes and Angers, and Le nozze di Figaro (Susanna) in Montréal. She was Andreas Scholl’s guest on his last recording of Handel’s cantatas on the Harmonia Mundi label with Academia byzantina conducted by Ottavio Dantone. Recently, she recorded Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Ode for the Anniversary of Queen Anne with Academie für Alte Musik Berlin also on Harmonia Mundi label. Hélène Guilmette has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec and the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation.
This is Ms. Guilmette’s debut with the ESO.
In the 2009-2010 season, mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, a native of Buenos Aires, will return to the San Francisco Opera for her second and final year in the Adler Fellowship Program, where she will participate in Suor Angelica and sing the role of Siebel in Faust. Previous performances in San Franciso include Idamante in Idomeneo, and Lucienne in Die Tote Stadt. Additional engagements for the 2009-2010 season include Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Opera Grand Rapids and Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Omaha.
Recent notable engagements include her debuts with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Opera Cleveland, as well as a recital sponsored by the Shoshana Foundation, and concerts with the EOS ensemble. In 2007, as a member of the Merola Opera Program, Ms. Mack performed the title role of Rossini's La Cenerentola. Other roles performed include Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen in La Tragedie de Carmen, Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Jo in Little Women. She was a featured artist in the 2006 Plácido Domingo Gala Concert - A Night for New Orleans with the New Orleans Opera. She was a second place regional winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, a winner in the Opera Birmingham Competition, and a finalist in the Palm Beach Opera Competition. She is also the recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, an encouragement grant from the Sullivan Foundation, and a Baton Rouge Opera Guild Career Grant. Ms. Mack earned both her Master's and Bachelor's degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
This is Ms. Mack’s Canadian debut.
Colin Balzer, tenor
Particularly esteemed as a recitalist, Mr. Balzer has been welcomed at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Britten Festival in Aldeburgh, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, the Wratislavia Cantans in Poland, and at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden. Recordings to date include Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch and Eisler and Henze song anthologies. A prizewinner of Holland’s Hertogenbosch Competition, the U.K.’s Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Stuttgart’s Hugo Wolf Competition, and Munich's 55th International ARD Competition, Mr. Balzer also holds the rare distinction of earning the Gold Medal at the Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau with the highest score in 25 years. Born in British Columbia, he received his formal musical training at the University of British Columbia with David Meek and with Edith Wiens at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg/Augsburg.
This is Mr. Balzer’s ESO debut.
Canadian Bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus is described as a “charming actor and more to the point a singer of enormous promise.” (Opera Canada). A graduate of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, he made his Opéra de Montréal debut in 2007-2008 as Silvano (Un ballo in maschera) and appeared at the company as Grégorio (Roméo et Juliette), and Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia), among other roles. Other operatic credits include Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Colline (La bohème), Frank (Die Fledermaus), and Sir John Falstaff (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor). Mr. Hegedus has performed with the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile, Les Violons du Roy, San Antonio Symphony, and the Houston Symphony. In April 2009, he made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Oratorio Society of New York. Engagements this season include the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall singing Handel’s Messiah.
Recently Stephen Hegedus appeared as a finalist at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, The World Opera Competition, in Québec City. Other awards include The Janet Stubbs Fellowship and The William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award, both from the University of Toronto. He is a grant holder of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers and of the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr. Hegedus holds a Master’s of Music in Opera from the University of Toronto and has pursued further studies at the Banff Centre, the Britten-Pears Programme (Aldeburgh, England), The Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (Montreal), The International Vocal Arts Institute (Tel Aviv) and the Centre for Opera in Sulmona, Italy.
This is Mr. Hegedus’ debut with the ESO.
i Coristi Chamber Choir
In addition to i Coristi's own concerts, the choir also regularly appears as a guest artist in concerts of other Edmonton choral and instrumental ensembles, including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and often gives the gift of music to help local charities with various fundraisers and other initiatives. i Coristi achieved a second place finish the 2008 CBC National Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs after having also placed second in the chamber choir category in 2006. The choir is honoured to have been one of only 13 Canadian choirs selected to perform at Podium (the national biennial conference of the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors) in Toronto in May 2002, and at the Podium conference in Winnipeg in May 2004. As part of i Coristi's 15th Anniversary Season, the choir will be performing at the 2009 Eisteddfod Festival in Wales this July.
i Coristi last appeared with the ESO in December 2008. Members of the choir appeared with the ESO in January 2009.
The University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, founded in 1978 by Larry Cook and conducted since 1982 by Leonard Ratzlaff, are regarded as one of Canada’s finest university choirs, with successes in both the CBC national Competition for Amateur Choirs and in several international competitions in Germany and Ireland. They have recorded five CDs, two of which (Balulalow, The Passing of the Year) received the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors national choral award for best recording of the year.
Comprised of students from the Department of Music as well as the broader student body, the Madrigal Singers have been regular guests of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Alberta Baroque Ensemble. The CBC has also recorded them frequently for national and regional broadcast. In May 2010 the Madrigal Singers will perform at Podium 2010, the biennial conference of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities, in Saskatoon.
The Madrigal Singers will have their annual fundraiser this March:
The 23rd Annual University of Alberta Madrigal Singers Dinner Concert
Saturday, March 13th, 2010, at 6 p.m.
The University of Alberta Faculty Club
$75/person
The evening includes dinner, a silent auction, an intimate concert by the Madrigal Singers, and cabaret selections throughout the evening.
For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Annette Martens at armarten@ualberta.ca or 780-299-3524.
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