‘Messiah’: York County Choral Society, 5 churches to perform Handel’s masterpiece marathon

The York County Choral Society is offering a holiday gift that’s both artistic and charitable, performing a work that is as much a marathon as it is a masterpiece.

The society, with the assistance of singers from five area churches, will perform George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” at 4 p.m. Dec. 6 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill.

Like the premier of “Messiah” in 1742, a portion of the concert’s proceeds will go to charity, in this case the Toys for Happiness campaign.

All told, 122 singers from the choral society and from First ARP, Grace Lutheran, Westminster Presbyterian, Neely Creek Presbyterian and St. John’s Methodist churches will perform. They will be backed by a 15-piece chamber orchestra.

Soloists are soprano Kristen Wunderlich, mezzo-soprano Jennifer McDaniel-Milliken, tenor Todd Geer and baritone Zachary Hugo. All work at Winthrop University.

The community-minded “Messiah” is a first for the choral society. There are plenty of challenges to meet.

One will be mastering their parts, which often look like an explosion of black ink with lots of small musical notes running up and down the scale.

In choral terms, these musical lines are called “melismatic,” meaning multiple notes must be sung to one syllable of text. For it to sound the way Handel intended, all singers must sing the same syllables.

“You have to articulate, have good breath support and good tone quality,” said conductor Katherine Kinsey, artistic director for the choral society and director of choral activities at Winthrop University.

There are other portions of the Messiah where the tendency is to over-sing.

“People get caught up in the moment,” Kinsey said.

The “Hallelujah” chorus is one such moment. It occurs at the end of Part II of the oratorio – Jesus’ death on the cross. A third section follows the chorus, covering Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

The text of “Messiah” was drawn from the Bible and the Anglican “Book of Common Prayer” by Handel’s patron, Charles Jennens. He assembled verses from 14 different books of the Bible, as diverse as Job and Revelation.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for singers and musicians is to remember that “Messiah” is baroque music, a style that is “delicate, dance-like; it has to be crisp and clear,” Kinsey said.

To meet the challenges with minimal rehearsals, she said, the key for her musicians is to have the right work ethic combined with love of music.

When they come together, Kinsey said, “wonderful things happen.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 3:29 PM with the headline "‘Messiah’: York County Choral Society, 5 churches to perform Handel’s masterpiece marathon."