St. John Vianney, Mentor OH, Sunday - December 7th at 7
p.m.
From the time I was small, I remember hearing the
Hallelujah Chorus during the holidays. I
think it was one of the cuts on a Mantovani album of classical music my parents
used to pop onto the turntable while decorating. I was about 28 years old when a friend talked
me into joining the Messiah Chorus of Lake County. I had no idea how extensive a score I would
be required to learn, because I had never heard the rest of the piece. At the time, I was a young second soprano,
but prone to allergy driven bronchitis, so when the seconds had to sing the
first soprano line, the muscles in my neck screamed. I lasted until the half-way break, then moved
over to the alto section where there was no straining to hit the high notes. I’ve been there ever since.
This year, I’m singing Messiah for the 31st
time. I’ve only missed singing two years;
once when heavily pregnant with Meredith and once when I was a confirmation
sponsor at my own church on the day of the concert. It sounds like a long time, but this group
has been performing Messiah annually for 66 years, and one woman has sung in 65
of those!
I’m but one of 170 voices, singing in harmony with
harpsichord, piano, organ, trumpet and strings.
The Messiah Chorus of Lake County is comprised of singers and musicians
from all of Northeast Ohio. They come here
from as far away as Strongsville or Orwell or Middlefield or Mantua. Our trumpet player comes from Kent. Our concert pianist lives in Cincinnati. Our professional soloists are scattered all
over the area. They come in questionable
weather and sometimes on nasty, icy roads.
And yet they come.
They come from churches of all denominations. Some come who don’t attend any church of any
denomination.
They come to sing, to perform, and to raise music to the
highest level. Handel’s Messiah is not
just classical music. It is not only
scripture put to music. It is a profound
and moving spiritual experience for those performing and for those
attending. But to get the full effect,
the miracle of the music, the magic of the performance, you have to attend...and
you have to stay to the end. The piece is
not over when the Hallelujah Chorus is finished. Those who leave after the Hallelujah Chorus
miss the best and most inspiring part of the concert.
Taken as a whole, it is a powerful, goose-bump
raising, enervating evening that no recording can equal. I urge anyone who has never before
experienced a live performance of Handel’s Messiah to attend. If you can’t attend the performance at St.
John Vianney in Mentor, Sunday at 7 p.m., then find another performance in the
area during this holiday season and make it a point to go.
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