Handel's Messiah

RECORDINGS OF THE WORKS

Georg Friedrich Händel: Messias

Watch on NRK TV (2025)More recordings on Kulturbase

Videos from Kulturbase

Address

Kirkegaten 25,
Gamle Fredrikstad

Handel's Messiah

Description

For almost 300 years the oratorio Messiah by Georg Friedrich Handel (1685–1759) has moved people all over the world. Few works in the history of music have had as strong an impact as Messiah. Handel composed the masterpiece in just 24 days, a period of his life marked by personal and financial problems. It is said that as the music streamed out of the composer, he was filled with new energy and wrote himself well again from depression. “Whether I was in my body or out of my body as I wrote it, I don’t know. God knows!”, Handel exclaimed after finishing Messiah. Handel was an opera composer. It shows in the work, with its melodies, contrasts and power. The oratorio consists of three parts that depict the life and message of Jesus, from the prophecies and the birth, through the suffering and death to victory and resurrection. Handel himself regarded Messiah as music for Eastertide, but around the world the work has become a beloved Christmas tradition. For us it is no exception. Handel's Messiah is our signature work. A popular success repeated In 2024 the concert at Scene 2 in Operaen sold out after a short time, in addition to record sales in the churches in Halden and Porsgrunn. Then we had the Irish Peter Whelan, our curator for early music, with us as conductor. We have him this year too. Peter is also artistic director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, which in 2022 received the prestigious Olivier Award. The orchestra guested at the BBC Proms in 2025 to great success. In 2026 they released their own recording of Messiah, in which they take the work back to Handel's time and the premiere in Dublin in 1742. Now you can experience our distinctive chamber-music version, arranged by the trumpeter Stian Aareskjold. This year's choir consists of hand-picked soloists, who will all also sing solo. Welcome to the concert! Duration: 2 hours and 45 minutes, incl. one interval. Performers: Peter Whelan, conductor Soloist choir: Soprano: Aisling Kenny, Charlotte O’Hare, Anna Veiteberg Alto: Eilís Dexter, Tobias Knaus, Margarita Slepakova Tenor: Graham Cooper, Aaron O’Hare, Edward Woodhouse Bass: Eric Ander, Christopher Webb, David Wijkman NB: In the churches the seats are unnumbered. Doors open 30 minutes before the concert starts. At Universitetets Aula a cloakroom is compulsory.