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| About this Concert Four Edmonton natives return home to perform Handel's inspiring marriage of scripture and song. This annual holiday performance of the famous oratorio features three of Edmonton's finest choirs to fully evoke the compelling spaciousness of the composer's music. Bill Eddins conducts the complete Messiah from the harpsichord. |
Additional Performances December 17, 2011 Next Symphony Special December 21, 2011 A Lightly Classical Christmas |
Ticket InformationDress Circle (A)Adult $75 / Student & Senior $75 Terrace (B) Adult $65 / Student & Senior $63 Orchestra (C) Adult $56 / Student & Senior $53 Upper Circle (D) & Choir Loft* (G) Adult $38 / Student & Senior $36 Gallery (E) Adult $28 / Student & Senior $28 Orchestra Front (F) Adult $20 / Student & Senior $20 All Youth tickets (under 18 years of age) $20 each. Tickets subject to applicable service charges. *Choir is located on-stage. Please note choir loft tickets are behind the stage. |
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Program Info
Messiah, HWV56 (135’)*
George Frideric Handel
First Part
1. Overture: Grave - Allegro moderato
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”
8. Recitative: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive”
9. Air: “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion”
10. Recitative: “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth”
11. Air: “The people that walked in darkness”
12. Chorus: “For unto us a Child is born”
13. Pifa: Pastoral Symphony
14a. Recitative: “There were shepherds abiding in the field”
14b. Recitative: “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them”
15. Recitative: “And the angel said unto them, Fear not”
16. Recitative: “And suddenly there was with the angel”
17. Chorus: “Glory to God in the highest”
18. Air: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion”
19. Recitative: “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened”
20. Air: “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd”
21. Chorus: “His yoke is easy, His burthen is light”
INTERMISSION
Second Part
22. Chorus: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”
23. Air: “He was despised and rejected of men”
24. Chorus: “Surely He hath borne our griefs”
25. Chorus: “And with His stripes we are healed”
26. Chorus: “All we like sheep have gone astray”
27. Recitative: “All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn”
28. Chorus: “He trusted in God that He would deliver Him”
29. Recitative: “Thy rebuke hath broken His heart”
30. Air: “Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow”
31. Recitative: “He was cut off out of the land of the living”
32. Air: “But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell”
33. Chorus: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates”
34. Recitative: “Unto which of the angels of God worship him”
35. Chorus: “Let all the angels of God worship him”
36. Aria: “Thou art gone up on high”
37. Chorus: “The Lord gave the word”
38. Aria: “How beautiful are the feet of them”
39. Chorus: “Their sound is gone out into all lands”
40. Air: “Why do the nations so furiously rage together?”
41. Chorus: “Let us break their bonds asunder”
42. Recitative: “He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn”
43. Air: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron”
44. Chorus: “Hallelujah!”
Third Part
45. Air: “I know that my Redeemer liveth”
46. Chorus: “Since by man came death”
47. Recitative: “Behold, I tell you a mystery”
48. Air: “The trumpet shall sound”
49. Recitative: “Then shall be brought to pass”
50. Duet: “O Death, where is thy sting?”
51. Chorus: “But thanks be to God”
52. Aria: “If God be for us”
53 Chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood”
54. Chorus: “Amen”
*Indicates approximate performance duration.
*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 correctly foresaw oratorio as the next popular concert form.
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 that was part of his makeup helped rally publicity before Messiah’s official debut. Handel staged a public dress rehearsal of the new work – 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 © 2011 by D.T. Baker
Artist Info
William Eddins, conductor & harpsichord
William Eddins is in his seventh season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure, he has made it a priority that he conduct performances in nearly every subscription series the orchestra has presented, as well as a wide variety of special concerts and galas.
Bill Eddins began playing the piano at age five, but was bitten by the conducting bug while in his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music. In 1989, he decided to begin conducting studies with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California. Assistant Conductorships with both the Minnesota Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony (the latter under the leadership of Daniel Barenboim) honed his skills even further.
Mr. Eddins has many interests outside music. He is fond of biking, tennis, reading, pinball, and cooking. He recently completed building his own recording studio at his home in Minneapolis, where he lives with his wife Jen (a clarinetist), and their sons Raef and Riley. While conducting has been his principal pursuit, he continues to perform on piano in Edmonton and elsewhere. He accepts a limited number of guest appearances each year. In 2008, he conducted a rare full staging of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess for Opéra de Lyon, which won him great acclaim, leading to a repeat engagement in Lyon in July and September 2010, as well as Edinburgh in August 2010, and in London in September 2010. During August 2009, Bill toured South Africa, conducting three gala concerts with soprano Renée Fleming and the kwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Linda Perillo, soprano
Canadian soprano Linda Perillo has been acclaimed in North America, Europe, and elsewhere as one of the finest Baroque sopranos of her generation. She has performed as soloist throughout North America with period instrument groups such as Tafelmusik in Toronto, and the San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, as well as with numerous symphony orchestras, including the Montréal Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Winnipeg Symphony, and with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. Her career in Europe has included performances and recordings with the English Concert, Gabrieli Consort, La Grande Ecurie, La Chapelle Royale, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and The Sixteen. Her solo recordings include music by Mondonville, which was awarded the coveted “Choc” laebl by the French magazine Diapason, and Un alma innamorata – cantatas for soprano with violin obligato.A former Edmontonian, Linda Perillo is an active and inspirational teacher, working mostly in London (U.K.) and Spain. In 2008, she founded “The Joy of Singing,” attracting a huge number of people from all walks of life to the spiritual and physical benefits of singing. The vocal ensembles she has formed perform all kinds of music, from Hildegard von Bingen to the Beatles, which Ms. Perillo accompanies on the piano and the harp. For this work, she has been nominated for a Civic Award in London.
Ms. Perillo last appeared with the ESO in December 2005.
Frances Jellard, mezzo-soprano
Frances Jellard was born in Plymouth, England, and educated in Edmonton. While studying for her degrees in Music and Drama at the University of Alberta, she sang with ConSept and Pro Coro Canada for Canadian and European tours. She entered the Royal College of Music on the postgraduate course and later joined the RCM Opera School; as a student she won several prizes, including the Contralto Repertoire Award in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. A member of many vocal ensembles, including the Wren Baroque Soloists and the Scholars Baroque Ensemble, she has toured the world and recorded extensively.Ms. Jellard enjoys a wide variety of performing styles. She made her theatrical debut in the Old Vic production of Isaac Babel’s Marya, and continues to do regular stage and opera work. Frances performs recitals of cabaret, music hall, and contemporary songs, and she has also recorded several soundtracks for film and television. In 1997, she made her debut in the BBC Promenade concerts as “Camilla” in Schubert’s Die Verschworenen. Solo concerts include Haydn’s Nelson Mass for Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Messiah for Nicholas McGegan, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Holland, and Walton’s Façade in St John’s Smith Square. Recent engagements include "Marcellina” in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for Opera à la Carte, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and Monteverdi’s Vespers in Spain. Ms. Jellard teaches singing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, St Paul’s Boys’ School and Latymer. She enjoys teaching, and is a Mentor in the Monteverdi Choir Apprenticeship Scheme. Frances is delighted to be returning home to Edmonton, and to be singing again with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; it is always such a pleasure, she says, to make music with old friends.
Ms. Jellard last appeared with the ESO in December 2002.
John Tessier, tenor
The Juno Award-winning John Tessier has garnered international attention and praise for the beauty and honesty of his voice, for a refined style and artistic versatility, and for his handsome, youthful presence in the lyric tenor repertoire. He has worked with many of the most notable musicians of our day including Plácido Domingo, Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Bryn Terfel, Sir Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Bobby McFerrin, John Nelson, Franz Welser-Möst, Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano, Samuel Ramey, Emmanuel Haim, Valery Gergiev, Deborah Voigt, Dame Gwyneth Jones, and Bernard Labadie.Mr. Tessier’s appearances of the recent past and near future include performances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Colón, Carnegie Hall, Oper Frankfurt, Grand Théâtre de Genève, English National Opera, Washington National Opera, the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Equally comfortable in the genres of opera, oratorio, and recital, Mr. Tessier is also in high demand for coaching, master classes, and private consultations. His discography includes recordings on the Naxos, Telarc, BIS, and Dorian labels.
Mr. Tessier last appeared with the ESO in December 2007.
Nathan Berg, baritone
Born in Saskatchewan, Nathan Berg’s vocal studies have taken him to Canada, America, Paris, and the Guildhall School of Music (where he won the Gold Medal for Singers). His wide ranging career has moved between his love of song to concert and opera in a vast range of styles and time periods. In recital, he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall in London, Lincoln Center in New York and many other prestigious venues around the world. An in-demand, "first-class" (Boston Globe) and versatile bass-baritone, he has worked with many distinguished conductors including Masur, Salonen, Christie, Herreweghe, Tortelier, Norrington, Leppard, Rilling, and Tilson Thomas; with most of the world's great orchestras. Among his operatic work he has appeared in roles ranging from Mozart's Figaro, Leporello, Don Giovanni, and Guglielmo; Puccini's Scarpia, Marcello, Coline; Wagner's Dutchman, Verdi's Ferrando, Rossini's Alidoro, Rameau's Huascar, and numerous Handel roles in such places as Glyndebourne, Paris National Opera, Netherlands Opera, La Monnai, New York City Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Trieste and Bavarian State Opera to name just a few.A Grammy nominated and Juno Award winning artist, some of Nathan Berg’s recording highlights include numerous CDs with Les Arts Florissants including Messiah and the Mozart Requiem, songs by Othmar Schoeck and a Lieder Recital recording with Julius Drake, Dvořák's Stabat mater, and recent DVD releases of Lully's Armide (Theatre des Champs-Elysees) and Rossini's Cenerentola (Glyndebourne). Highlights in the 2011/2012 seasons includes Scarpia (Tosca) with Edmonton Opera, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, and San Fransisco Symphony, Dvořák Te Deum with Cleveland Symphony, Huascar in Les Indes galantes with Théâtre Capitole; Valens in Handel’s Théodora with Le Concert Spirituel, and debut performances of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Seattle Symphony.
Mr. Berg last appeared with the ESO at Richard Eaton Singers’ performance of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis last month. He will also appear at the Christmas Special / Robbins Lighter Classics concert, A Lightly Classical Christmas on December 21st and 22nd, 2011.
i Coristi Chamber Choir (Debra Cairns, director)
Now celebrating its 18th season, i Coristi Chamber Choir is an ensemble of 22 singers. Membership is by audition and encompasses a broad cross section of the population: accountants, teachers, computer programmers, nanotechnologists, designers, theologians, administrators, office personnel - singers for whom music is their vocation, and singers for whom music is their avocation! The name i Coristi is Italian, meaning “The Choral Singers”. Noted for its unique, eclectic programming, the choir focuses on a cappella masterpieces from the Renaissance to the 21st century, presented in three main concerts each season.
Twice second-prize winners (2006 and 2008) in the Chamber Choir category of the national CBC Radio Amateur Choir Competition, i Coristi has been heard on national and regional broadcasts of CBC Radio, has performed with the Edmonton Symphony, toured Ontario and Manitoba, and been invited to perform in Toronto and Winnipeg at the national biennial conferences—Podium—of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities (ACCC). During the summer of 2009, i Coristi completed a highly successful tour to England and Wales, which included a performance at the prestigious International Eisteddfod Festival in Llangollen, Wales. This past summer i Coristi was accepted to perform at Festival 500 in St John’s Newfoundland. The choir has issued three CDs, the most recent of which, Songs of the Soul, was released in the fall of 2008 in celebration of the choir’s 15th season. The founder and conductor of the choir is Dr. Debra Cairns. For further information about the choir, visit our website at www.icoristi.com.
i Coristi last performed with the ESO in December 2009. They will appear again with the ESO February 24 & 25, 2012.
Òran (Scott Leithead, director)
Founded in 2002, Òran began as an alumni offshoot of Edmonton's Kokopelli Youth Choir, but it has since developed into a group made up of young adults from all over Edmonton. Each brings a different viewpoint to the group, but all are united in their passion for singing. The choir stresses the same philosophical goals as its younger counterpart, striving to achieve musical excellence and artistic integrity, as well as combining new interpretive techniques with more traditional choral expertise.
Above all, Òran is dedicated to sharing joy in song with each other, with other choirs, and with audiences around Edmonton and across Canada. Òran was featured at the 2005 Festival 500 in St. John’s Newfoundland, and more recently, participated in the Laval International Choral Festival in Québec in July 2009, as well as a cultural tour to Cuba in May 2011. The choir is celebrating its tenth year this season and is conducted by Kathleen Skinner, alongside associate conductor and Kokopelli's Artistic Director Scott Leithead.
The choir last appeared with the ESO in September 2010.
U of A Madrigal Singers (Leonard Ratzlaff, director)
The University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, conducted since 1982 by Leonard Ratzlaff, are regarded as one of Canada’s finest university choirs, with successes both in the CBC National Competition for Amateur Choirs and in several international competitions in Germany and Ireland. The Madrigal Singers have performed on invitation at the American Choral Directors National Convention in Los Angeles in 2005, and at Podium 2010, the biennial conference of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities in Saskatoon. The have also participated in 3 University Voices projects, sponsored by Soundstreams Canada in Toronto and featuring Canada’s finest university chamber choirs.
“The Mads,” as they are called, have recorded five CDs, two of which (Balulalow, and 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 as well as the Alberta Baroque Ensemble. The CBC has also recorded them frequently for national and regional broadcast. Later this season, the Madrigal Singers will perform as guests of Pro Coro Canada in their annual Good Friday concert. Conductor Leonard Ratzlaff is professor of choral music at University of Alberta, where he co-supervises the largest graduate program in choral conducting in the country. He holds several honours, including the Order of Canada, the Alberta Order of Excellence, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
The choir last appeared with the ESO in December 2009.
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