The Greenville Choral Union and Orchestra will celebrate their 85th annual performance of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah on Sunday, December 6 at 4:00 p.m. in the Whitlock Music Center on the campus of Greenville College. In addition to listening to this perennial favorite, the audience will have opportunity to sing carols along with the Choral Union and Orchestra. Former Choral Union members are also invited to sing several Messiah choruses with the ensemble.
The 100-voice Choral Union and 35-piece orchestra will perform selections from Parts 1, 2 & 3 of Messiah. Handel’s oratorio was premiered in Dublin, Ireland in 1742 in a benefit concert for a children’s hospital. In honor of this tradition, half of the proceeds from the Greenville performance on Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. in the Whitlock Music Center Recital Hall at Greenville College will be given to International Child Care Ministries (http://www.childcareministries.org), a Christian organization that assists underprivileged children around the world with basic necessities such as food, medicine, and education.
This year eight professional vocalists, all of whom graduated from Greenville College, will sing the solos in “Messiah.” They are: sopranos Sarah Seymour (Peoria, IL) and Bridget Winterman Parker (Bloomington, IN, formerly from Hillsboro, IL); mezzo-sopranos Lisa Gines (St. Louis, MO) and Stacey Ritter (Edwardsville, IL); tenors Lloyd Nicks (Shiloh, IL) and Kendell Stephens (Nappanee, IN, formerly from Greenville, IL) and bass-baritones Daniel Denner (Ellisville, MO) and Jacob Yang (St. Paul, MN).
Fourteen professional instrumentalists from the St. Louis area will join the Greenville Chamber Orchestra, directed by Gary Erickson, Professor of Music at Greenville College. The accompanist for the Choral Union, Dr. Catherine Burge, is also Staff Accompanist and a Piano Instructor at Greenville College. Ms. Sarah Todd, Visiting Instructor of Piano at Greenville College, will serve as organist. Dr. Jeff Wilson, Director of Choral Activities at Greenville College and Music Director of the Greenville Choral Union, will conduct the concert.
Seating for the concert will begin at 3:30 p.m. An offering will be taken to help defray the costs of the concert.
Immediately following the concert there will be a reception at the Tidball Alumni House on the Greenville College campus (at the corner of College Avenue and Elm Street).
For those who are not able to attend the performance, the concert will be broadcast live on WGRN, 89.5 FM.
For more information about the Greenville Choral Union and Greenville Chamber Orchestra, please contact the Greenville College Department of Music at (618) 664-6560.
