"The Messiah"
It was presented and performed by
Calvin Dyck's Songs, Strings and Steps,
the Central Valley Academy of Music,
Valley Festival Singers (Tony Funk director)and
Pacific Spirit Choir (Gerald van Wyck director).
The soloists were Charlene Pauls, Laura Pudwell, John Bacon and Willy Miles-Grenzberg.
Because Harv was still out of town I had an extra ticket and invited my dad to join me and our friends G & E. I did have an ulterior motive for going to this particular performance. Our youngest son is part the Valley Festival Singers. I am so proud of his love of singing. He has an amazing Bass voice and seems to thrive on music that is challenging to sing.
South Abbotsford MB church was beautifully decorated for Christmas with lights and pointsettias and was filled to capacity with anticipation.
The 130 singers, orchestra members and soloists surpassed our expectations.
The familiar songs were performed with skill and emotion. I loved the way the conductor drew the music from the performers, melding them into one glorious voice.
"Comfort Ye my people", "the Glory of the Lord", "For unto us a Child is born", All we like sheep have gone astray" Lift up your heads" had me singing along
(under my breath of course).
"The Hallelujah Chorus" was an anthem of praise that lifted the rafters and had us all on our feet. The duet of trumpet and soloist in "The trumpet shall sound" was amazing and the closing "Amen" brought the whole evening to a majestic finale.
One thing I noticed as I listened to the music was Handel's use of silence to emphasize the words and accent the music. I love the fact that he used Scripture almost verbatim in the songs - each time I read those passages from Isaiah, I "hear" his glorious music.He was a master, who illustrated God's great plan of salvation in a way that stirs the soul and points us to Christ.
What a glorious way to begin the Christmas season.
4 comments:
That sounds wonderful...and how special to have your son involved! I hear the Abbotsford performance was all sold out. We are planning on gong to The Messiah in Chilliwack later this month.
Bev, I really need to go to this sometime. . after all it is so close. My beloved is not so into this type of concert, so next year, I'll grab a friend and just go.
Leaving this here for you in case you don't catch it back at my Pantry...
The Eggplant Parmigiana freezes very well... just like lasagna. Try the eggplant just once if you end up liking the zucchini version, the eggplant has it beat by a margin of 2 to 1... just richer and nicer texture, and mmm mmm good! I've fed it to a lot of people who were turned off by the thought of eggplant and they LOVED it. Thanks for your sweet comment over at my other place, your daughter is a gift to me... a real treasure.
What a wonderful description..
Did you ever sing the Messiah?
I did once and since then I need to hear it every few years.
We'll see it in town on Sat. Dec. 20th.
I'm so looking forward to this piece.
I'm like you, I sing along quietly.
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