The Lompoc Valley Master Chorale is celebrating the holiday and 20 years of musical contribution to Lompoc’s musical community with the piece that originally brought the group together: George Frederic Handel’s setting of the Messiah to be performed on Dec. 16 and 17 in Lompoc.
“David Hensley, who was the founding director of the group, had put together a group of singers to sing The Messiah for the Lompoc Music Association in 1991,” said Cathleen Abrams Hacker, director of the chorale.
After the first performance of the Messiah and before the second 20 years ago, Hacker explained, Hensley asked the members of the chorus if they would be interested in continuing the endeavor. The Lompoc Valley Master Chorale was born.
“Out of the hundred singers for the Messiah, 80 showed up to the first rehearsal,” Hacker said. “They have had several directors and artistic staff since and got their 501c3 and became a nonprofit, and have been going ever since.”
The choir is now 65 members strong, more than enough to fill the required soprano, alto, tenor, and bass sections with skilled singers. But the choir won’t be alone, not for a piece of this magnitude. Diane Siminski, the concertmaster for the Lompoc Pops Orchestra, organized a chamber orchestra to accompany the choir. Violin, viola, cello, bass viola, flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, and timpani will all sound through the hall with the choir. Also part of the instrumental ensemble will be a pipe organ played by Dr. Ekaterina Gotsdiner-McMahan.
The Messiah is an oratorio written by Handel in 1742. An oratorio is a piece composed for an orchestra, choir, and solo singers, much like an opera. The difference lies in the context; an opera is a musical drama with costumes and stage movement that deals with theatrical themes, whereas an oratorio is a concert piece with no stage direction and that overwhelmingly deals with sacred themes and texts. This oratorio is a setting of a scriptural libretto by Charles Jennens with text from the King James Bible.
The solo singers who will complete the ensemble for the Lompoc Valley Master Chorale’s celebration includes some local talent. Two doctoral students in the UCSB Vocal Department will sing soprano and bass: Mary Rose Go and Keith Colclough, respectively. A San Luis Obispo-area music educator, Katharine Lui, will sing mezzo soprano for the piece. And San Luis Obispo High School and Laguna Lake Middle School music teacher and choral director Paul Osborne will sing the tenor part. Osborne actually graduated from high school in Lompoc in 2001, Hacker explained, when he received a vocal music scholarship from the Lompoc Music Association for singing the very same part in Handel’s Messiah.
Like an opera, the oratorio will feature several rousing choruses and many beautiful arias for the solo singer. The performance will include the whole first part of the three-part piece, and selections from parts two and three.
“We’re not doing the whole thing, but we are doing more than most groups do,” Hacker said. “There are three parts to Handel’s Messiah, which all three parts would take over three hours, and that’s not including an intermission.”
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The performances will happen at First United Methodist Church at 925 North F St. in Lompoc. Both performances are at 7:30 p.m. Now synonymous with the Christmas season and known especially for the “Hallelujah” chorus, the Messiah is a showstopper if there ever was one.
“There is something about Handel, where he was able to reach the average person more than other composers,” Hacker said. “Some people think of Handel’s Messiah as much as decorating trees when Christmas comes around.”
Get the right gift
Getting the right gift for someone is always a chore, but if the person is musically inclined, the task can become even more daunting. To help, I offer my musician’s gift guide to the heap.
First things first: What kind of musician are we dealing with here? Instrumentalist or vocalist? Bassoonist or banjo player? Heavy metal or polka? Such details are important! Buying a bunch of guitar picks for someone who plays the cello is just about as embarrassing as buying violin rosin for a trombone player. Know your instruments and your accessories!
Secondly, musical styles are also important when considering gift options. Someone who gets jazzed about jazz may not feel the same way about Beethoven’s symphonies. But if you want to impart some of your own musical tastes on your friend or family member—regardless of their own interests—go for it. Might I suggest the complete unabridged works of Weird Al Yankovic?
And lastly—and most importantly—is necessity. Do you know someone with an out-of-tune piano? A surprise piano tuning or even repair would be a wonderful present to any musician or music lover.
Contact Calendar Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 15-22, 2011.