Musicians assemble every year to produce the same great work of classical music, with choristers singing the familiar melodies and musicians sounding their parts proudly. The tradition is centuries old, ever since George Frederic Handel composed the oratorio Messiah in 1741.
The massive three-part oratorio is performed both on Christmas and Easter, with different parts reserved for each holiday. Part one is intended for Christmastime, and that’s exactly what Sarah Raines wanted to perform this December as part of her concert series in Lompoc.
Raines is a classical singer who produces solo concerts, but she wanted to open up the performance of Messiah to anyone who wanted to join the choir or audition for a solo, she said.
“I thought it would be a good way for me to get to know a lot of different singers in the community and a good way to celebrate Christmas,” she said.
The response was good, Raines said, as many choir singers already have experience with the piece because it’s performed
every year.
Raines leads the choir for the performance on Dec. 16 at Calvary Baptist Church in Lompoc. The “community choir” has rehearsed every Sunday for more than a month now under Raines’ direction. The ensemble includes choristers from Calvary Baptist, the Lompoc Valley Master Chorale, the Allan Hancock College Singers, Lompoc High School, the Lompoc Civic Theatre, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Most of the rehearsal time wasn’t spent learning the music, but rather refining it, Raines explained.
“It’s not easy music, it’s definitely hard, but it’s so ubiquitous that most singers have heard it or performed it before,” she said. “Since it’s such a great classical work, it’s a really good way to expose yourself to good, quality classical music that is unintimidating because it is familiar.”
Besides directing the choir, Raines will sing the alto solo part for one of the oratorio’s arias. The volunteer singers auditioned for solo parts as well, Raines explained, and so several choir members will perform arias arranged for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
The soloists include Meredith Brammer, Nick Curry, Philip Epstein, Daniel Fraats, Renee Grant, and Teresa Rodriguez. All of the soloists are singers in the choir as well, Raines explained.
“One of the reasons I called it a ‘community sing’ is because I wanted to do it in a community way,” Raines said. “All the soloists are also singing in the chorus. And then, instead of letting one soprano take all the solos, I wanted to spread the wealth and allow more people to have the opportunity to have their moment of singing.”
Producing a community sing is a labor of love, so Raines wasn’t able to hire an orchestra. “Not this year,” she said. Instead of an orchestra, a pianist performs the orchestra reduction for the concert. Raines’ regular collaborator Yun Murphy has covered the piano accompaniment for all the rehearsals so far, but Murphy suggested her niece Yu-Ting Peng play for the concert.
Peng is a graduate student in piano performance at Cal State Northridge, Raines said, and is a gifted and talented musician.
“We’re thrilled that such an accomplished graduate student is going to be performing with us and taking the time out of her busy schedule at school to do it,” she said. “I would love if this becomes an annual thing, and next year to recruit an orchestra to come along with us, but for now we are doing it with an orchestral production on piano and it’s going to be beautiful.”
Raines said that audience members are welcome to join in singing on the choruses that they know at the Dec. 16 concert. It’s tradition for the audience to stand during the iconic “Hallelujah” chorus, and singing along is only natural.
Arts Editor Joe Payne sang bass in the Messiah years ago and enjoys hearing the familiar choruses. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2016.
