‘The Messiah’ performance in Pocatello in its 30th year
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POCATELLO – Co-director Arlo Luke said the spiritual and inclusive message of “The Messiah” by George Frideric Handel, is needed now more than ever.
“It’s been a turbulent year, ‘The Messiah’ brings us together,” Luke said.
The one-night only production of the classic Christian choral is set for Dec. 18 at Jensen’s Grand Hall in the Stephens Performing Arts Center in Pocatello.
The show starts at 7 p.m. and the concert and community sing-along is free to the public, but organizers are asking for a donation of canned food, which will be delivered to the Idaho Food Bank.
Luke, Chairman of the Board of Varsity Contractors, Inc., said the event is currently in its 30th year.
“It started in 1985,” Luke said. “The Messiah was intended to be a one-time production.”
The annual choral presentation was held at the Highland Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Stake Center until its 25th anniversary when the event moved to Jensen’s Grand Hall.
Luke currently serves as the director of two LDS church choirs, he performs with the Camerata Singers and he’s a popular local soloist.
‘The Messiah’ premiered in Pocatello under the direction of local violinist Gail Higgins and Farris Edgley, the music director for Pocatello public schools. Luke first performed in the choral as part of the orchestra, he played the viola.
In the 1990, Edgley stepped down and Luke, along with bassist Wayne Winters, took charge of the annual event.
This year, Luke and Winters are sharing the bill this year with co-directors Scott Anderson, director of the ISU chamber and concert choirs and Grant Harville, conductor of the ISU State Civic Symphony.
About half of the orchestra are members of the ISU State Civic Symphony and Luke said the bi-annual performances are an opportunity for ISU vocal students to audition and test their wings.
“We have developed a partnership with the music department at ISU and they have supported us,” Luke said. “This is a great opportunity for students to be able to perform with a professional orchestra and to have performed ‘The Messiah’ is an accomplishment.”
“The Messiah” draws about 50 local musicians and this year 28 soloists auditioned for 12 parts in the choral presentation. But Luke said it’s the community singers who come and lift their voices during the “Hallelujah Chorus” that makes the presentation something special.
“It really is a thrill to be able to perform with the orchestra and being able to be at that venue is such a special experience,” Luke said. “I really hope we get a lot of singers this year.”
Attendees are asked to sit in station according to their vocal range, soprano, alto, tenor or bass.
Luke said during the performance in 2014, more than 800 singers came out and took part in ‘The Messiah.’
“We filled the hall with singers and listeners,” Luke said.
The Messiah was first performed in April 1742 in Dublin, Ireland. Today Luke said the choral piece is one of the best-known and most performed choral pieces in the world. Handel was given the libretto, or lyrics for “The Messiah” and he wrote the 260-page manuscript in 24 days.
“Handel said he was not sure if he was in his body or outside of it during composition of “The Messiah.” He was overcome, I believe he was touched by the hand of God,” Luke said.
Born in Halle, Germany in 1685, Handel took up residence in London in 1712, and became a naturalized British subject in 1727. His accomplishments and rewards include, a pension from the court of King George II, the office of Composer of Music for the Chapel Royal, and a statue erected in his honor in Vauxhall Gardens
The Messiah is based on Christian scripture and focuses on the birth, the death and the resurrection of Christ.
Luke said while the local Christmas production has its roots in the LDS church, the event has grown in the past three decades and now includes other local churches, Pastor Mike Dingman with the Pocatello Seventh Day Adventists church will deliver the opening prayer during the event and Nathan Long with the LDS church will offer the benediction.