{"id":6464,"date":"2021-12-03T13:15:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T18:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/?p=6464"},"modified":"2021-12-03T13:15:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T18:15:55","slug":"rc-choir-presents-handels-messiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/?p=6464","title":{"rendered":"RC Choir Presents Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Charissa Roberson<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To usher in this Christmas season, the Roanoke College Choir will be presenting Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d at St. Andrew\u2019s Catholic Church on Sunday at 4 pm.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMessiah\u201d is a 53-movement musical piece called an \u201coratorio,\u201d which tells a story through the vehicle of choir, soloists, and orchestra. Written in 1741, \u201cMessiah\u201d follows the life of Christ, from His birth to His resurrection. The piece is a celebrated classic that is often performed around the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe Messiah is a personal favorite of mine that I was only ever able to perform in one-song increments,\u201d said junior Alexis Barton. \u201cI was very excited to perform a longer version with the choir!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The RC Choir has been preparing for Sunday\u2019s ambitious concert for months, in between rehearsals for their other shows, such as the Family Weekend concert and Lessons & Carols. The performance of Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d marks a return to more extensive projects for the choir.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIn the Fall of 2019, the RC Choir performed \u2018Pagliacci\u2019 with Opera Roanoke,\u201d said senior Claire McDonald. \u201cSince then, our director Dr. Sandborg has wanted to do another large-scale collaborative piece.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sandborg\u2019s vision had to be put on hold, however, with the advent of COVID-19. Since then, the RC Choir has had few opportunities to perform. Their 2021 Family Weekend concert was the first time they had sung for a live audience since the pandemic began. Now, after a trying year, their line-up is returning to some semblance of regularity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAfter a successful year of masked singing, and thanks to mass vaccination, we decided to do some more challenging pieces and more performances that would get us back to our \u2018normal\u2019 caliber and schedule,\u201d said Barton.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d certainly presents a challenge for the choir to tackle. The epic piece can run for about two and a half hours! In addition, the choir is singing some of the songs in Latin, adding another layer of difficulty to the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0However, working on such a demanding piece has brought the choir closer together and allowed them to bond over the difficulties and triumphs of preparing Handel\u2019s oratorio. McDonald described one way that she tries to keep things light.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cOne of the pieces is called \u2018His Yoke Is Easy\u2019 and I enjoyed trying to make eggs puns about his \u2018yolk,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sunday\u2019s performance of \u201cMessiah\u201d will be offered free of charge, with donations accepted for local charities. In other exciting news, Professor Marianne Sandborg will be featured as the concert\u2019s soprano soloist! Come and experience Handel\u2019s sweeping masterpiece, in celebration of the Christmas season, brought to life by our very own RC Choir.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Charissa Roberson \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To usher in this Christmas season, the Roanoke College Choir will be presenting Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d at St. Andrew\u2019s Catholic Church on Sunday at 4 pm. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMessiah\u201d is a 53-movement musical piece called an \u201coratorio,\u201d which tells a story through the vehicle of choir, soloists, and orchestra. Written in 1741, \u201cMessiah\u201d follows the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-6464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-summer2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}