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.

Born in 1933 in Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling is active as a conductor, pedagogue, and an ambassador for the music of J. S. Bach worldwide. In 1954 he founded the Gächinger Kantorei and 11 years later he founded the Bach Collegium Stuttgart as the choir’s regular orchestral partner in 1965. Inspired by this devotion to Bach’s music, in 1981 Mr. Rilling founded the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart dedicated to furthering the composer’s music through public concerts, master classes for singers and conductors, symposia, and residencies all over the world. Either with his house ensembles in Stuttgart or as a guest conductor, Mr. Rilling is active on the international concert podium, performing regularly throughout Europe, U.S., and Canada. He has a special friendship with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, dating back some 30 years and since 1970 has been the artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival. He has recently appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Minnesota Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago. In 2007 he led a choral workshop at Carnegie Hall that culminated in a performance of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. His highly acclaimed premieres include Passions (2000), composed by Wolfgang Rihm, Sofia Gubaidulina, Osvaldo Golijov, and Tan Dun; and Robert Levin’s new completion of Mozart’s Mass in C minor at Carnegie Hall (January 2005). Mr. Rilling has hundreds of CD, radio and television recordings to his credit, and between 1970 and 1984 he was the first musician to record all of Bach’s cantatas (Hänssler Classic). Furthermore, he was the guiding hand behind the Internationale Bachakademie’s critically acclaimed project of recording the complete works of J.S. Bach for Hänssler Classic, which was released in 2000 to coincide with the 250th Anniversary of Bach’s death. Among Mr. Rilling’s many prizes are the UNESCO International Music Prize in 1994 and the Theodor Heuss Prize in 1995. He won a Grammy Award in 2000 for his recording of Krzyztof Penderecki’s Credo and was again nominated in 2001 for his recording of Wolfgang Rihm’s Deus Passus. In 2003 he became an honorary member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences.

Soprano Annette Dasch’s international career started in 2000 when she won important singing competitions in Barcelona, Zwickau, and Geneva. Subsequent engagements have included performances with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, Sächsische Staatsoper in Dresden, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, New National Theatre in Tokyo and the Innsbrucker Festwochen. She has worked with many renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Manfred Honeck, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, and Sebastian Weigle, among others. Past roles include Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni under Daniel Barenboim at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2007) as well as her role-debut as Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Bayerische Staatsoper at the reopening of the Cuvilliés Theatre (June 2008). With the Vienna Philharmonic, she made her debut in Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri at the Wiener Musikverein in March 2008. Ms. Dasch is an exclusive artist at Sony BMG.

“Annette Dasch knows to reach all the vocal registers, with noble phrasing and nuances from the airiest pianissimo to the most dramatic outbursts.” (Die Presse, Vienna)

Countertenor Daniel Taylor has made more than 75 recordings, including Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and John Elliot Gardiner for Deutche Gramophone and SDG; Renaissance duets with James Bowman and the actor Ralph Fiennes on BIS; Handel's Saul with the Bach Academy Orchestra and conductor Helmuth Rilling on Hanssler Classics; and Handel’s Rinaldo with the Academy of Ancient Music, led by Christopher Hogwood, on Decca. His debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in Handel’s Theodora (recorded for Erato) followed his operatic debut in Jonathan Miller’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda (recorded for EMI). His North American operatic debut was in Handel’s Guilio Cesare at The Metropolitan Opera in New York. Mr. Taylor is professor of voice at the University of Ottawa, visiting artist at the University of Toronto, adjunct professor at McGill University, guest faculty at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and founder and conductor of the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music.

“Vastly refined singing...a voice of purity, clarity and surprising power.” (The New York Times)

“Canada’s star countertenor...there is a sense of conviction and honesty that sets him apart from the others.” Globe and Mail

[Reviewing his CD, The Voice Of Bach] “Now at full artistic maturity, his work here is stunning. His sound is pure, smooth, ethereal, and evocative, with excellent flexibility and perfectly placed.” (La Scena Musicale)

A native of Houston, tenor James Taylor attended Texas Christian University as a student of Arden Hopkin. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where he graduated in 1993 with a Meisterklassendiplom. In May 2005 the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music announced his appointment as associate professor of voice in the program in early music, song, and chamber ensemble. One of the most sought-after Bach Evangelists, Mr. Taylor performed the role for his New York Philharmonic debut with Kurt Masur in 2008, as well as throughout the United States, in South America, Japan, and Israel, as well as in the great concert halls of Europe including Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, and the Royal Albert Hall in London. Mr. Taylor can be heard on more than 30 recordings. New releases include the Mozart Requiem with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra led by Andreas Delfs on Limestone Records, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Nashville Symphony on Naxos, and the rarely-heard Baroque opera Ariadne by Johan Georg Conradi with the Boston Early Music Festival led by Paul O’Dette on ArkivMusik.

“[The St. Matthew Passion] stands or falls by the performances of the vocalist soloists… especially the Evangelist… The American tenor James Taylor brought his sweet, light yet penetrating voice to the role of the Evangelist…” (The New York Times)

The 23-year-old Chinese bass-baritone Shenyang is currently enrolled in The Juilliard School’s artist diploma program as a member of the Juilliard Opera Center, and he has joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera. After studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and at Zhou Xiaoyan Opera Center, he rose to prominence after winning the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, the youngest of six finalists. His operatic roles include Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Verona Philharmonic Theatre and Zhou Xiaoyan International Opera Center, and Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte in France and Germany with the Berlin Sibelius Orchestra. Shenyang has taken part in many concerts, including modern chamber music concerts at both the Eastern-Asia Music Festival in Korea and at the Beijing Music Festival. In the last two years he has made several recordings, including Super Bass and Schubert’s Winterreise (a Chinese premiere), which were released by FengLin Records Company.

“Shenyang has a rock-solid technique and a lovely, velvety bass-baritone.” (The Telegraph)

The Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart (GKS) was founded in 1954 by Helmuth Rilling when he was still a student; it took its name from Gächingen, a small village in the Swabian Mountains, and retained that name even after relocating to Stuttgart. Initially the mainstay of its repertoire was a cappella works from the 16th, 17th, and 20th centuries, but in 1965, after Mr. Rilling founded the Bach Collegium — the primary instrumental partner of the chorus — the repertoire was extended to embrace music from the 18th and 19th centuries, and made possible the rediscovery and presentation of the Romantic choral repertoire (including several world premieres, such as Mendelssohn’s youthful opera Der Onkel aus Boston in 2004). The GKS has sung many world premieres of contemporary works, such as Litany by Arvo Pärt, Requiem der Versöhnung (Requiem of Reconciliation, written by 14 composers from 14 nations), and Wolfgang Rihm’s Deus Passus. Helmuth Rilling and the chorus are regular guests at the world’s most prestigious music festivals, including Salzburg, Berlin, Lucerne, Vienna, Prague, London, Berlin, and Leipzig, to name a few, and since 1976 have made regular guest performances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.