'Virtual Messiah Sing' will connect Mechanics Hall to your home for traditional event

WORCESTER — Who will be singing Handel's Messiah on Dec. 13?

Here's one for the history books. The answer is, you, if you so choose to sing along to any or all of the first "Virtual Messiah Sing" that will be presented virtually on demand from Mechanics Hall starting at  4 p.m. Dec. 13.

Actually, soloists Louise Fauteux (soprano), Agnes Vojtko (mezzo-soprano), Kirk Bobkowski (tenor) and Alexander Patrie (bass), all members of CONCORA from Connecticut, will be leading the singing filmed in Mechanics Hall to the accompaniment of eight instrumentalists from the Worcester Festival Chamber Ensemble as Christopher Shepard conducts. Everyone will be observing social distancing in the Great Hall.

With the pandemic shutting down the possibility of large choruses taking the stage for in-person performances of Messiah this season, the Worcester Chorus (under the auspices of Music Worcester), the Masterwork Chorus of New Jersey, and CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists of Hartford ) are combining to host the event.

The idea is that people can watch and listen or even sing along from home.  

Asked if he thinks people will actually sing to their screens, Shepard said, "Oh yes, I'm sure of it. There are two groups  of people interested: Choral singers but also audience members for whom Messiah is their annual tradition."

The tradition has a long history in Worcester. A music convention held in 1858 in the new Mechanics Hall that had been built a year earlier culminated with a "Grande Finale Concert," as a large chorus performed a program that included selections from Handel's Messiah.

Meanwhile, the Worcester Chorus has been putting on Messiah yearly for at least 120 years, and the Masterwork Chorus of New Jersey presents its signature performance of Messiah every year at Carnegie Hall in New York City. CONCORA is Connecticut's oldest professional choir with many a Messiah to its name.

What all three groups have in common is Shepard as their music/artistic director. They have also all previously performed at Mechanics Hall.

"It was a way we could all participate in an annual Messiah," Shepard said. "We've all been at Mechanics Hall, so it made sense."

Tickets for the on-demand presentation are $10. People will be emailed a link to view the event after their  purchase. For more information and a link to tickets, visit www.musicworcester.org. Rather than a free pre-concert talk Dec. 13, there will be a free pre-concert video tracing the history of Messiah, put together by students from the College of the Holy Cross, about which more later.

Music Worcester will offer a recording of the "Virtual Messiah Sing" event to choral directors as an on-demand performance video from Dec. 15 through Dec. 24. This high-definition video of the performance will be delivered via email to buyers at a private URL that may be shared with choral ensembles and audiences who may be missing out on an annual Messiah sing for the holidays due to pandemic restrictions.

Handel’s 1741 contemplative work in three parts about the story of Jesus Christ has great dramatic and emotional movement. It was first performed April 13 in 1742 in Dublin. But in America rather than being sung around Easter a tradition emerged of Messiah concerts put on in the holiday season featuring the "Christmas portion" (Part I) as well as all the choruses of Parts II and II, including Hallelujah Chorus.

That's what CONCORA members Fauteux, Vojtko, Bobkowski and  Patrie will be singing on stage in Mechanics Hall.

For social distancing reasons, this year's Worcester Festival Chamber Ensemble had to be "cut back to an absolute minimum," Shepard said. Some of the eight instrumentalists will be located in different parts of the hall. 

There won't be a Zoom gallery of combined chorus members singing with the four CONCORA members for the online streaming. Indeed, rehearsals of Messiah by a big singing group on Zoom were pretty much impossible because "the voices cannot be synched. We wanted to avoid that," Shepard said. "It's really unsatisfactory, unsatisfying," he said of the sound quality. 

"Everything has been unfortunate with the pandemic, but it's such a shame  that something that's a comfort to so many people, choral singing, it's impossible because of the unsatisfactory nature of the virtual rehearsals."

However, the Worcester Chorus, for whom Shepard is artistic director, still meets once a week. But rather than at the First Unitarian Church of Worcester, where it used to gather, the sessions are online. 

"We have been doing more educational programs," Shepard said. They include sight singing, and "Mark Mummert  (assistant director) does an excellent vocal technique class." Once a month Shepard has been featuring guest vocal teachers. Shepard has also been "re-introducing" the chorus to Bach's B minor Mass, which it performed to great acclaim in 2012 and is planning to put on again in the spring.

"Although that (spring) doesn't look particularly hopeful, we'll do the piece as soon as we can," Shepard said.   

Attendance at the weekly online meetings has been "remarkable," Shepard said, with about 80 singers regularly showing up. "We chat with each other, so I think we've made the best of a bad situation."

Besides overseeing three choruses and choirs in a wide region from New Jersey to Hartford and Worcester, Shepard is also director of music at St. John's Episcopal Church in Stamford, Conn.  

"I'm usually a busy boy. I spend my week on the road," he said.

That has changed dramatically since the pandemic — there are few in-person meetings or events now to go to.

"I've chosen to see all of this as a sabbatical year," Shepard said. "I've been studying scores. Doing a bit of writing … I got so bored I taught myself how to bake bread."  

 But he will be raising the baton again for the "Virtual Messiah Sing" in Mechanics Hall.  

"I'm so excited. I don't know if I even remember how to conduct. It's going to be so much fun," Shepard said.

However, don't call the "Virtual Messiah Sing" a "performance," strictly speaking.

"I stress that it's not a performance because we can't really rehearse," Shepard said. "It's not meant to be a performance. It's meant to be something that people share with us ."

Regardless, Music Worcester executive director Adrien C. Finlay is pleased to see Messiah in its traditional place in the season.

"Music Worcester feels so fortunate to be able to continue bringing original content to our audiences here in Central Massachusetts and beyond," Finlay said. "Our annual Messiah performance is such an anchor of the winter season, and we are thankful to be following up the other virtual concerts this season of Joshua Bell, Asiya Korepanova and Chanticleer (Dec. 12) with Handel's masterpiece.

"Though we cannot wait to return one day soon to welcoming capacity crowds at Worcester's historic venues, we also cannot wait to bring this year's very special Messiah performance to our audiences," Finlay said.

The video documentary, "Handel’s Messiah Through the Ages," will be aired by Music Worcester prior to the "Virtual Messiah Sing." This audio-visual experience is the product of a collaborative effort between students in Megan Ross' Music 101 “Introduction to Music” class at the College of the Holy Cross and Music Worcester. It features a local perspective on this work with never-before-seen footage of interviews from members of the Worcester Chorus conducted by students.

Ross, visiting assistant professor in the Music Department at Holy Cross as well as a Holy Cross alum, said the documentary traces Messiah from Europe to the United States and into Worcester. It also looks at the significance of Messiah at Holy Cross.

Twenty-six students worked on the project and were divided into different groups to produce geographic mapping (from Dublin to Worcester), conduct interviews with Worcester Chorus members, and look at religious interpretations 

"It was a blast. My students had fun working on it," Ross said. 

"I think it was a great way to get the class connected into the community and teach the Western Art tradition as a living tradition."

Finlay said Music Worcester plans to have the documentary available in the days before the concert as well and it will be provided free to all who are interested. 

"In recent years Music Worcester has sought to connect more with the significant academic community throughout the region … One of these new contacts, Professor Megan Ross of the College of the Holy Cross, has been especially interested in connecting her students to the cultural institutions of Worcester," Finlay said. 

"We look forward to bringing this class project to Music Worcester supporters as a virtual pre-concert presentation this December, and thank Professor Ross for her leadership in connecting her classroom to Worcester!"