The Exeter Philharmonic Choir, directed by Andrew Millington with The Exeter Chamber Orchestra will be performing Handel’s Messiah on October 22nd in Exeter Cathedral.

Handel's Messiah is deeply rooted in the musical life of Britain and is rightly the first masterwork in our 170th Anniversary Season.
German-born George Frideric Handel arrived in London in 1710 hoping to make a name for himself with operas in Italian. Instead he made a name for himself with oratorios in English. When Charles Jennens presented his text for Messiah in 1741, Handel was at a very low point and considering leaving England. Instead he was invited to present a series of concerts in Dublin and set about composing Messiah, which he completed in just twenty-four days.
Handel knew he had composed something very special and on completing The Hallelujah Chorus, said, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself."   Beethoven once said, "Handel was the greatest composer that ever lived.  I would uncover my head, and kneel before his tomb."  King George III called him "the Shakespeare of Music."  George Bernard Shaw commented that "Handel is not a mere composer in England: he is an institution.  What is more, he is a sacred institution."

One of the special challenges in performing Messiah is to keep the work sounding fresh and the choir is looking forward to making it as newly minted as their first performance of it in 1847.  Among the soloists will be the soprano, Sarah Power, who sang so beautifully in our performance of Brahms’ Requiem in March 2013.