Local audiences are in for a tremendous and rare treat this summer season with a performance of Handel's Messiah as it has never been done here before now, says Friederike Andre, committee member of Scholars Pro Musica.
The Scholars Pro Musica, under direction of Chalium Poppy, team up with New Zealand's only professional Baroque Orchestra - NZ Barok. Audience members will hear instruments over 200 years old being played.
"This is their very first venture to the Bay of Plenty and they are equally excited at the chance to perform this iconic masterpiece in a chamber setting as we are to have them!" he says.
"The Messiah is still the most globally performed choral work and it can win significantly from a performance with smaller forces. It means a greater transparency, one will be able to follow different voices and recognise patterns so much easier than when there is just an - albeit beautiful - wall of sound."
Performances of the Messiah have become somewhat of a behemoth affair in the past, but "what will be on offer this November is much more in keeping with what Handel himself intended when he performed it".
