Last updated; 22nd July 2007
Jersey Festival Choir
Annual concert 2001
This concert was widely agreed to have been a great success with a very positive review in the Jersey Evening Post on the 15th of May which said it was a "Magical Messiah". The 100-strong Festival choir were joined by the Kings Chamber orchestra under the control of David Lawrence and along with the soloists Joanna Lunn soprano, Emily Bauer-Jones contralto, James Oxley tenor and Ashley Holland baritone, the ensemble truly made music worthy of this wonderful masterpiece by Handel.
Joanna Lunn Emily Bauer-Jones
When it was first suggested that the choir might perform Handel's Messiah, the choir was asked to give a show of hands to see who had not sung it before. It was felt that a small number of hands would go up as the Messiah must be one of the most, if not the most, frequently sung works however about two thirds of the choir put their hands up. Most people had sung choruses from the work but many hadn't sung the whole piece and that is what we did on Saturday 12th of May at St. Helier Methodist Centre (formerly Wesley Grove Methodist Church). In a bold move, the leadership of the choir chose for the whole of the work to be sung from beginning to end trusting the dynamism of David Lawrence would keep the music flowing and the audience from feeling that the end would never come! The end did come at just past 10.30 and by then the large audience was surely thrilled by the high standard of the performance they had just witnessed.
A large picture of the choir and orchestra can
be seen by clicking on the thumbnail
ŠJEP
