‘Messiah’ By Mendelssohn Choir

For The Holidays

FAIRFIELD — The Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut (MCC) will ring in the holiday season with the glorious sounds of George Frederich Handel’s Messiah on Saturday, December 9, at 8 pm, in Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The choir, under the direction of conductor Carole Ann Maxwell, has been named the Quick Center’s Chorus-in-Residence for 2000-01.

Handel wrote Messiah in 1741 to a libretto of Londoner Charles Jennens, who had fashioned a text from the Old and New Testaments and parts of the Anglican Service that clearly marks a progress from Prophecy and Nativity (Part I), to the Crucifixion and Resurrection (Part II), to the promise  of Redemption (Part III).

This is unique among Handel’s oratorios in that the protagonist, Christ, never appears nor is any event of his life specifically described. However the plot, in its immense epic scope, is imbued with values of faith, hope, struggle, triumph and solace that are part of Christian beliefs, though not necessarily church specific.

The choir will be accompanied by the Festival Orchestra and Beth Palmer of Trumbull on harpsichord. Solosits will be soprano Kat Alston of New Haven, mezzo-soprano Sharon Derby Gordon of Fairfield, tenor Joel R. Anyan of Ridgefield, and bass Craig Hart of Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.

Tickets are $25 and may be purchased by calling the box office at 203/254-4010 or toll free at 877/ARTS-396.