Programme

HANDEL ‘Messiah’

Artists

Phillipa Hyde soprano

The Hanover Band Chorus
THE HANOVER  BAND

Robert Howarth conductor

About This Concert

Handel’s Messiah takes us from the tenderness of the Christmas story to the blazing magnificence of the final Amen chorus, through some of his most exquisite arias for solo voices and the rousing brass and timpani of music’s most famous “Hallelujah” (sorry, Leonard Cohen!) It’s easy to see how this oratorio, written in just 24 days in the summer of 1741, grew from its modest premiere in Dublin to become the smash hit of the Georgian age.

The Hanover Band has always felt a special affinity for Handel, an early-Hanoverian giant whose music continued to resound throughout the era, and we’re delighted that this tour marks our first collaboration with Robert Howarth, one of the country’s leading directors of Handel’s music. We join forces with a stellar line up of soloists and The Hanover Band Chorus—our hand-picked ensemble of professional voices—to make this the Messiah to hear this Christmas.