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.

Richard Hickox is principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, music director of Opera Australia (Sydney), and music director and founder of the City of London Sinfonia. He is also associate guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra; conductor emeritus of the Northern Sinfonia; and co-founder of Collegium Musicum 90. His most recent guest engagements outside the U.K. include concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, and Dutch Radio Philharmonic. Recent operatic engagements, apart from Sydney, have included his debut with the Vienna Staatsoper and several productions with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and English National Opera; in September 2004 he conducted Britten’s Billy Budd at Washington National Opera. Mr. Hickox has regularly conducted the major U.K. orchestras and has appeared frequently at festivals in Aldeburgh, Bath, and Cheltenham, and at the BBC Proms. His appearances with the London Symphony at the Barbican have included a number of semi-staged operas such as Billy Budd, Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel, and Richard Strauss’s Salomé. He conducted the first-ever complete cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies in London with the Bournemouth Symphony. He has made more than 250 recordings, and has received a Grammy Award® and four Gramophone Awards.

Soprano Christine Brandes enjoys an active career in North America and abroad, performing at many of the world’s most distinguished festivals and concert series in programs ranging from recitals and chamber music to oratorio and opera. In the 2005–06 season her operatic appearances include Britten’s Turn of the ScrewLyric Opera of Kansas City; Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Opera Company of Philadelphia; and Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at Central City Opera. Her concert schedule includes appearances with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, San Francisco Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra. Recent symphonic appearances have included concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen; Los Angeles Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle; The Cleveland Orchestra and Ensemble Orchestral de Paris with John Nelson; The Philadelphia Orchestra with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Wolfgang Sawallisch; Detroit Symphony with Neeme Järvi; and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra with Nicholas McGegan. She has also appeared with Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Foundation, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Glimmerglass Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opéra de Nancy, New York City Opera, Opera Pacific, and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, among others. These Messiah concerts mark her New York Philharmonic debut.

Venetian-born contralto Sara Mingardo is a regular guest at prestigious Italian theatrical institutions such as Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, and Teatro Comunale di Bologna.She also maintains an active schedule of performances on the world’s great stages — Opéra de Monte Carlo; Opéra de Lausanne; Gran Teatre de Liceu, Barcelona, Théâtre des Champs Elysées de Paris; Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie in Brussels; and the festivals of Salzburg, Montreux-Vevey, Aix-en- Provence, Bregenz, Beaune, Schwetzingen, Montpellier, Dresden, and Santa Fe. She enjoys successful collaborations with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Myung Whun-Chung, Sir Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock, and Jeffrey Tate. Her concert performances include appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica G. Verdi di Milano, and Orchestre National de France. Her extensive concert credits include Mahler’s Second Symphony, Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Petite Messe Solennelle, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Handel’s Messiah, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and Vivaldi’s Magnificat. Her operatic repertoire includes works by Gluck, Monterverdi, Handel, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Britten, and many others. These Messiah concerts mark her Philharmonic debut.

Tenor Mark Tucker, born of Anglo-Venetian parentage, has a particular interest in Italian repertoire. Career highlights include a performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the title role of Monteverdi’s Orfeo with the New London Consort under Philip Pickett and directed by Jonathan Miller; appearances at the Salzburg Festival in Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and again under Sir John Eliot Gardiner at Basilica San Marco, Venice; and the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s Vek Moy with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Cologne Philharmonie. This season’s highlights include Andromeda Liberata (ascribed by some to Vivaldi) with the Venice Baroque Orchestra under Andrea Marcon in Japan; Haydn’s The Creation with the Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona under Ernest Martínez Izquierdo; and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Richard Hickox. In concert Mr. Tucker has sung Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Vladimir Ashkenazy; Britten’s Nocturne at the Aldeburgh Music Festival under Charles Hazlewood; Beethoven’s Mass in C major for Venice’s La Fenice under Gardiner; Britten’s St. Nicolas with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra; and Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt. These Messiah concerts mark his Philharmonic debut.

Bass-baritone John Relyea, winner of the 2003 Richard Tucker award, has appeared in many of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, including The Metropolitan, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Fe operas, and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Munich Staatsoper, and Paris Opera. In concert he has appeared with numerous orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Met Chamber Orchestra with James Levine, Opera Orchestra of New York, Israel Philharmonic, and Montreal Symphony. Mr. Relyea has given recitals at Weill Concert Hall in New York City, Wigmore Hall in London, Edinburgh Festival, University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, Ravinia Festival, and the University of Chicago Presents series. This season he makes his debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, and returns in the spring as Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. He also returns to The Metropolitan Opera as Figaro; Garibaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda; and Raimondo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Banquo in Verdi’s Macbeth; and San Francisco Opera as Figaro. He makes appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Berlin Philharmonic, and Munich Philharmonic, and performs in recital at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

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.