GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759)
Messiah, A Sacred Oratorio (1741)
Messiah’s power, glory, and majesty make it the greatest and most beloved oratorio in all the world. The premiere of Messiah took place in 1742 in Dublin to benefit three charitable organizations. It was anticipated with great excitement—so much so that a local newspaper pleaded with audiences planning to attend to reduce the bulk of their clothing (in order to sell more tickets, and thus bring in more money for the charities): “The Stewards of the Charitable Musical Society request the Favour of the Ladies not to come with Hoops this Day to the Musick-Hall in Fishamble Street. The Gentlemen are desired to come without their Swords, as it will greatly increase the Charity, by making Room for more company.” In 1741, Handel’s friend Charles Jennens (1700-1773) had sent the composer a libretto of Old and New Testament texts he had compiled; Handel was so taken with it that he immediately set to work and completed his inspired score—full of dazzling solos, pyrotechnical instrumental passages, and memorable choruses—in an incredible three weeks. Messiah is divided into three parts: I. The prophecy and nativity of Christ as redeemer of the world (including the joyous “Unto us a Child is Born”); II. The Passion and its redemptive meaning, with the stirring “Hallelujah Chorus” (Audience Alert: this does not signal the end of the work, just intermission); and III. An affirmation of faith and the promise of redemption, resurrection, and life eternal. Handel biographer Paul Henry Lang wrote about the most famous chorus of Messiah: “When the Hallelujah Chorus is thundered, its wondrous strains exuding power and pomp, the audience gets to its feet to greet a mighty ruler in whose presence we do not kneel but stand at attention.” King George II must have known that when he rose out of respect for the performance. We still do so today.

Dutch-born conductor Ton Koopman studied organ, harpsichord, and musicology in Amsterdam. In 1969, at the age of 25, he created his first Baroque orchestra and later founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992. Over the course of a 45-year career, he has appeared as conductor and soloist at important concert halls and festivals on five continents. As an organist he has performed on the most prestigious historical instruments of Europe, and as a harpsichord player and conductor of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir he has been a regular guest at venues in Europe and the United States. Between 1994 and 2004 Ton Koopman conducted and recorded all the existing cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, for which he received several awards. As a guest conductor, he has collaborated with many prominent orchestras in Europe, United States, and Japan. He makes his New York Philharmonic debut in these concerts.

South Korean soprano Sunhae Im studied at the College of Music/Seoul National University and the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany. In 1999 she made her Frankfurt Opera debut in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (as Barbarina) and Monteverdi's L’Incoronazione di Poppea (as Valetto and Amor). She has appeared in Maeterlinck’s Pelleas et Mélisande (as Yniold) in Berlin, Stuttgart, and at the Edinburgh Festival, in addition to other roles internationally. Sunhae Im has worked with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Frans Brüggen, Herbert Blomsted, Kent Nagano, Riccardo Chailly, and Michael Gielen. Her concert repertoire includes the Passions of J.S. Bach, Handel, and Mozart concerts arias and masses, as well as Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons. Ms. Im’s recordings include Haydn’s Esterhazy cantatas (Harmonia Mundi France) and Bach’s Mass in B minor with Helmut Müller-Brühl (Naxos). Future engagements will include performances in Cologne, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, and South Korea. This is her New York Philharmonic debut.

German countertenor Andreas Scholl, a renowned recital artist, performs in the world’s leading concert halls and festivals, including appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburger Barockorchester, Munich Philharmonic, and at the 2005 Last Night at the Proms. Operatic engagements include Handel’s Rodelinda (as Bertarido) at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and The Metropolitan Opera, and Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Royal Danish Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Opéra de Lausanne. He is a winner of two ECHO Awards, the Prix de l’Union de la Presse Musicale Belge, and the Middle Ages/Renaissance category of the 2002 Edison Awards. Mr. Scholl has released a series of solo recordings on the Decca label, including Arias for Senesino, for which he won the 2006 Classical Brit Singer of the Year award. His discography also includes recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and Harmonia Mundi. This is Mr. Scholl’s New York Philharmonic debut.

Swiss tenor Jörg Dürmüller studied violin and voice in Winterthur, Switzerland, and Hamburg, Germany. As a concert singer he is particularly known for his appearances as the Evangelist in J.S. Bach’s Passions. He has appeared at distinguished venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Auditorio Nacional de España, and Santa Cecilia in Rome, and at the opera houses of Hamburg, Montpellier, Leipzig, Cologne, Strasbourg, Sevilla, and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Opera performances at the Vienna Volksoper have included Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola. He has worked under conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Hofstetter, René Jacobs, and Helmuth Rilling. His recordings include J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (as the Evangelist) under Ton Koopman, as well as Suppé’s Die schöne Galathée under Bruno Weil (as Pygmalion). This is Mr. Dürmüller’s New York Philharmonic debut.

Born in Freudenstadt, Germany, baritone Detlef Roth studied voice at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule. He has appeared in operas by Wagner, including Tannhäuser (as Wolfram) and Parsifal (as Amfortas), in addition to Mozart’s The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro at the Salzburg Easter Festival, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the Bastille in Paris. As a concert singer, Mr. Roth has performed with major orchestras all over Europe. Specialties of his repertoire include Mendelssohn (Elijah, Paulus, and Walpurgisnacht), Mahler, Orff’s Carmina burana, Brahms’s A German Requiem, as well as the Passions by J.S. Bach. Important conductors in his career include Riccardo Chailly, Valery Gergiev, Marek Janowski, Lorin Maazel, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Jeffrey Tate. In 2003 Mr. Roth recorded a prizewinning CD of unknown Schubert Lieder with Ulrich Eisenlohr (Naxos). Detlef Roth resides in Freudenstadt, Germany, and in Florida. These concerts mark his debut with the New York Philharmonic.

The Westminster Symphonic Choir (WSC), directed by Joe Miller, is composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and has recorded and performed with major orchestras under virtually every internationally known conductor of the last 75 years. In the 2009–10 season the choir will perform John Adams’s El Niño with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, led by Sir Roger Norrington at Carnegie Hall. The WSC’s 2008–09 season included a series of performances with the New York Philharmonic, including Handel’s Messiah, led by Ton Koopman, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, conducted by Lorin Maazel. The choir also performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons, and Mahler Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, and 8, with the Berlin Staatskapelle led by Pierre Boulez. The Women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in February 2009, performing Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht, led by Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur.