The Choir of St Bride’s and the Saraband Consort present the 6th annual performance of Handel’s Messiah

All are welcome to a performance of Handels’ “Messiah” by the choir of St. Bride’s church, Fleet Street, which will take place in the church at 7 p.m. on Thursday 22nd November, the feast-day of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music.

“Messiah” is one of the crowning achievements of Western classical music, with the scriptural text covering the timeless story of Christ’s birth, Passion and resurrection set to some of Handel’s most sublime and inspired music. It has been performed by musicians all over the world, often by massed choirs, and the orchestral parts have been adapted by musicians ranging from Mozart to Sir Thomas Beecham.

However, the original performance, which took place in Dublin in 1742, was given by singers from the city’s two cathedral choirs, and we hope that our performance, given by our own resident church choir accompanied by period instruments, will come close to the spirit of that occasion.

Anybody who has attended a service will know, the choir of St. Bride’s is no ordinary church choir. The twelve professional singers are all distinguished soloists in their own right, and one of the features of our performance is that all the solo sections are sung by members of the choir, with each singer given an opportunity to shine. All of them are also expert ensemble singers, meaning that the choral sections will be sung with precision but without any loss of dramatic impact – visitors hearing the choir for the first time are always amazed by the power generated by such a small number of singers. Those who have attended our performances of “Messiah” over the past few years will testify that the climactic moments such as the “Hallelujah” chorus or the final “Worthy is the Lamb” can be as overwhelming in the intimate, yet resonant space of St. Bride’s as when they are sung by hundreds of voices in the Royal Albert Hall!

The instrumentalists, who form such an integral part of the performance, are drawn from members of the Saraband Consort. This is a group of professional instrumentalists of equal expertise and experience to our own singers, and we have developed a strong working relationship with them over the past few years. Their founder and director is Benjamin Bayl, a former Organ Scholar of both St. Bride’s and King’s College, Cambridge, who is now making a name for himself as a conductor. The group’s use of period instruments, including violins with gut strings and natural (valveless) trumpets give a very particular flavour to the music which Handel himself would have recognized.

The harpsichord continuo (using an instrument copied from an 18th-century model) is played by our current Organ Scholar, Ian Tindale, and the performance is conducted by Robert Jones, Director of Music at St. Bride’s since 1988, who has sung in numerous “Messiahs” as both soloist and choir member and thus approaches the work from a singer’s point of view.

We hope you will join us for this very special evening.