‘Galaxy of local stars’ perform Handel’s Messiah

BLOWING THEIR TRUMPETS: Waiora Paul-Utiera (left) and Per Elzen in rehearsal for Handel’s Messiah. Their sound will be heard in such stirring numbers as The Trumpet Shall Sound and the Hallelujah Chorus, in the Gisborne Choral Society concert on Sunday, April 2. Picture supplied

Handel’s Messiah, the choral work that has been a hit for almost 300 years, will once more resound here on April 2, sung by the Gisborne Choral Society, which was forced to postpone the performance last December when its principal guests had Covid.

The accompaniment will be provided by Roy Tankersley, who is experienced in the massive task of translating orchestra parts into a symphony of flying hands and feet, this time on the organ of St Andrew’s Church. Roy is well known around the country as an organist, organ builder and restorer, teacher, recitalist and choir conductor. 

Now based in Palmerston North, he is an old friend to Gisborne, where he lived in the late 80s and early 90s. He has since returned many times to play for the Choral Society, and for a number of piano-duet recitals with Coralie Hunter.

The tenor solos will be sung by Lija Crichton, from Wellington, whose beautiful voice was last heard here in 2021 in the Mozart Requiem. He has since sung the Messiah in the Michael Fowler Centre with the NZSO.

Other singers include Shelley Anne Avisenis, Alex Raines, Erin Small, Catherine Macdonald, Elizabeth Raines, Cheyney Biddlecombe, Mary-Jane Richmond, Serena Foster, and choir conductor Gavin Maclean. 

Using a galaxy of local stars, as Maclean has done for most of his 10 productions of this work, accentuates the variety of the solo arias.

The Messiah was written in a frenzy of enthusiasm by George Frideric Handel in just over three weeks, in which he produced this masterpiece which remains the most popular of choral works after 280 years. Though intensely religious in inspiration, its popularity has not waned in the modern world of secular music-lovers. 

By turns tub-thumping, thrilling, heart-rending and meditative, it is a miracle of melodies, choral and orchestral effects, and variety.

The climaxes, such as the Hallelujah Chorus, The Trumpet Shall Sound, and the extraordinary four-minute-long final Amen, are augmented by trumpets and timpani. These will be played by Per Elzen and Waiora Paul-Utiera, with Amanda Maclean on timpani.

Some cuts have to be made from the original three-hour work. The Gisborne concert will be less than two hours.