The Nottingham Harmonic Society

2010 - 2011

6 November 2010
JENKINS / BACH
4 December 2010
MESSIAH
18/22 December 2010
CAROLS
12 March 2011
ALEXANDER NEVSKY
28 May 2011
SOUTHWELL

Sponsors of Family Carol Concerts

John Lewis Partnership, Nottingham

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Jenkins/Bach Messiah Carols Spring Southwell
Messiah Saturday 4th December 2010 7:00pm
Royal Concert Hall

HANDEL Messiah

Martene Grimson Soprano
Andrew Radley Counter tenor
Richard Edgar-Wilson Tenor
Simon Kirkbride Bass

ORCHESTRA DA CAMERA
Organ - Philip White-Jones

Conductor - Richard Laing

NOTTINGHAM HARMONIC SOCIETY

This concert comes at the start of Advent, when we are all finally becoming aware that it really isn’t long until Christmas, even though the shops have been anticipating it for months. Come and have an evening to escape from the bustle and let Handel’s glorious music wash over you and renew you.

Handel’s inspired Messiah, written in only 21 days, also looks forward to Christmas, telling the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, through prophetic, narrative and explanatory extracts from the Bible.

Although Messiah is the work by which most people in the world know Handel, it is almost a misfit in his output. He was not generally a religious composer and was not employed as a church musician, but rather wrote operas and music for royal occasions. His oratorios appear to be simply operas with religious themes. At the time they were written in England, they were not allowed to be staged nor acted. They could only be performed in a church, not in a theatre.

Handel’s operatic techniques are apparent in Messiah. The choir plays parts ranging from a vituperative mob hurling insults round the Cross to a choir of Angels singing of Jesus’ birth and praising Him in Heaven.

Many of the soloists’ arias are familiar and well-loved, but they make even more impact in the context of the whole work.

If you have never heard the whole of Messiah before, or have only heard versions which are heavily cut and there is no sense of continuity, come and be prepared for a totally different, thrilling, emotional experience!

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For printing:
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Children's Ticket vouchers for concerts in November and March and for Messiah are sent out to as many schools as we can in the area. There are also some vouchers available from

on Derby Road in Nottingham, if we have missed your school, or you need more than you have been sent.

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