Fredonia proudly presents The Messiah

WILL SMARCZ
Special to The Leader

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah...!"

Many already know that The Messiah is a famous piece of music often performed around the holidays by various orchestras. The Messiah was first composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel and since then it has undergone many performances around the holidays and is still performed today. Since 2005, Fredonia has begun the tradition in a biannual event by having their own orchestra perform Handel's classic.

The orchestra performing the classic will be conducted by Fredonia's own Gerald Gray. This will be Gray's second time conducting the piece at Fredonia as he conducted it in 2005 during The Messiah's premiere. "This is really all about the students," Gray said as he commented on how difficult preparing for this monumental event really is. "It's some of the most difficult music Handel wrote. The solo pieces are very difficult."

The Messiah is a piece that has been altered significantly beyond its original design. This performance will stay true to the Handel's original design, bringing a more classical feel to the performance.

During a preview practice session, the performance was shown to be extremely polished. The choir's pitch is perfect and every song brings with it a grand warm feeling from the very familiar Hallelujah to many unfamiliar songs that will really captivate the audience and definitely put them in the holiday spirit.

As Gray said, this performance is all about the students. Judging by the preview of the rehearsal, they have all put in a tremendous amount of effort into making the performance one to remember.

"This is a great experience. I may or may not have found my niche. This is the closest thing to professional," said junior music education major Will Prapestis. Prapestis was selected to be the apprenticeship to baritone, one of the four specialists selected for the program. The sound and look of the choir even in rehearsal makes it hard to believe that they are a group of college kids.

Junior music education major Laura Noack joined the choir just for The Messiah. "It's very familiar with high school [performances]," Noack said, when regarding the atmosphere around the choir.

Senior Lea Kazakis, a music education major, will be performing in The Messiah for the second time at Fredonia.   "It's a wonderful privilege and opportunity as an undergraduate student. The music is well written and operatic in many ways."

Perhaps the most interesting and most crucial aspect of The Messiah is its accessibility. Those with no classical music background at all will be able to sit down and enjoy the show while those with experience will be able to appreciate Handel's work and the wonderful performance by the choir.   "It's universally appealing," Gray said. "The music is just so wonderfully delivered so that everyone will be able to enjoy it."

The Messiah will clock in at around two hours and 10 minutes and will be performed in scenes. This year the event will be played not once, but twice. The performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 5 and Thursday, Dec. 6 at Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall.