We're now into the Christmas season and yesterday I started listening to Christmas music and decorating the house. I ignore those who decorate right after Halloween and especially those who leave their Christmas lights up all year...
I'm not a Grinch. I just feel December is enough, thanks. I dutifully take the decorations down at Epiphany and that seems just about right.
One of the grand musical traditions at this time of year is to attend a performance of a work actually written for the Easter season. I'm speaking of course of Handel's celebrated oratorio Messiah. Handel actually wrote it at a feverish pace in about three weeks and it premiered in Dublin, Ireland in the springtime as a fundraiser. How it came to be associated with the Christmas season still appears to be a bit of a mystery, but that is what we do now.
There are far too many to list in the southern Ontario area in the month of December, including the biggest of all at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall leading up to Christmas. So I will just touch on two of my favourites here and hopefully they will whet your appetite for explore more performances elsewhere.
Tonight the Elora Singers under the direction of Artistic Director Mark Vuorinen will present their version of the holiday classic in nearby Fergus at the larger St. Joseph's Catholic Church, rather than their usual winter home at St. John's Anglican Church in Elora. What I like about this performance is they draw the soloists from the ranks of the choir rather than bringing in special guest soloists for the evening. Most every singer in the choir could very well be a soloist in their own right, so this will be the night some of them will shine.
If you plan things right you can enjoy a nice afternoon and dinner in Elora at a magical time of year and then head over to nearby Fergus in time for the concert.
Tickets will be tight I'm sure but you can go online to www.elorasingers.ca or call the box office at 1-519-846-0331 to see what's available.
Closer to home, the tradition continues in Niagara with our celebrated Chorus Niagara with conductor Robert Cooper performing the oratorio in Partridge Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines later in the month. Usually they perform Messiah on a weekend but this year it will be a mid-week event, scheduled for Wednesday evening, December 13th. Partridge Hall is their home base and I know the chorus will sound superb as usual.
I have not attended a Chorus Niagara performance of Messiah in many years now, long before they moved downtown to the PAC, so I might have to look into that this year. But we'd better hurry as limited tickets are available by calling 905-688-0722 or go online to www.firstontariopac.ca.
Whatever performance you attend and wherever you do just remember to stand during the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus, of course...
Have a great weekend!
December 2nd, 2023.
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