Tudor Choir Performs "The Messiah"

[Helene]

Doug Fullington's Tudor Choir will perform "The Messiah" with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra at Seattle's Town Hall 7:30pm tonight and 2pm tomorrow. doug was quoted in The Seattle Times:

Fullington says the Seattle Baroque Orchestra's 19 musicians and Tudor Choir's 15 singers make the perfect number for the Great Hall, a venue that approximates the dimensions of that original Dublin show.

Fullington says "small forces bring more subtlety to the performance. We can be more fleet in tempo. Details are heard more clearly."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/ente...messiahs12.html

[carbro]

Merde, Doug. Have a good time!

[Helene]

I saw the performance Sunday afternoon, and it was superb! It's amazing the huge sound that 15 voices can make, and the setting of Town Hall was a beautiful one for such a thoughtful and integrated performance.

The soloist work was remarkable. Lone among the "Messiah" performances I've seen, the soloists for the most part told a story instead of the more typical bunch of show-off arias, especially bass-baritone Douglas Williams, whom I'd love to hear in a song cycle, his approach is so text-based. Tenor Wesley Rogers, a former Seattle Opera Young Artist, has a brilliant and easy top. Soprano Robyn Driedger-Klassen had breath control to spare through all of the long phrases and ornamentation, and mezzo Sarah Mattox has a beautifully integrated voice.

My favorite section was the third, with the duets between soprano and violin, tenor and mezzo, and bass-baritone and trumpet solo, played by the splendid Kris Kwapis.

It was great to see former PNB dancer Manard Stewart in the bass section.

According to the program, the Tudor Choir is performing "Christmas in Olde England" on Boxing Day, 26 December at 7:30pm at the Blessed Sacrament Church on 9th Avenue.