Angeles Chorale to perform Messiah Dec. 10 in Pasadena

When asked for advice on how to prepare for a performance of Handel’s beloved oratorio Messiah – which the Angeles Chorale will present on Saturday, December 10 at 7:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Pasadena – Resident Guest Conductor Donald Neuen replied, “To study it till you need Excedrin.”



If Neuen, who over the course of his career has conducted Handel’s masterpiece over 40 times and is renowned for his “historically authentic” presentations of Messiah worldwide, is exaggerating, it isn’t by much.



“One of the problems in Messiah is that people think they know it because it’s done so often. They’ve been hearing it since they were a kid. So conductors think they don’t have to study it with an expert or a scholar,” explains Neuen, who studied the work while on the faculty at the Eastman School of Music with two men whom he describes as knowing “more about the music of Handel than anyone since it was written” – Alfred Mann and Jens Peter Larsen.



“Therefore, they make the same mistakes the conductors they studied under made, and the mistakes just keep rejuvenating themselves,” Neuen continues. “But I learned note by note, for thousands of notes, song by song for 53 songs, exactly how they should go regarding every interpretive thing you could do – how passionate, how tranquil, how loud, how soft, how fast, how slow. Messiah can’t be mushy and gushy. It’s got to be wonderful, spirited, alive, crisp, with quick tempos and dance-like.”



This may surprise many – especially those who have heard Messiah performances as they’ve traditionally been performed since the 1920s – but, since his tenure at Eastman, Neuen has viewed baroque music as “innately jazzy.”



“Jazz didn’t get invented in New Orleans,” says Neuen with a smile. “Bach and Handel invented it in the late 1600s and early 1700s. They came in and said, Hey, let’s cook here. Let’s have more rhythm. Let’s have it exciting and tranquil and serene and powerful and delicate. You can scat sing to Bach and Handel just like you can to Duke Ellington and Count Basie. As Jens Peter Larsen used to say, fine Handel is just like fine jazz. So if you like fine jazz, come hear a jazz concert called Messiah.”



But even those who don’t necessarily thrill to the rhythms of jazz will leave the Angeles Chorale’s performance of Messiah exhilarated, says Chorale member and Chairman of the Board, Eileen Doctorow. “There is a spirit and energy to Don’s interpretation that is electrifying,” Doctorow explains. “It will be an uplifting performance like no other you are likely to hear.”



“Messiah is so beautiful,” adds Neuen. “It’s genius who created all this. And I don’t know of anybody who came to Messiah and said, Well, I didn’t like that. Yet it’s always a challenge to serve the piece. To get the forces – the orchestra, soloists, and choir – to bring the presentation up to the point where it lights a fire under the audience. To where it’s a perfect performance, with every note executed perfectly.”



Neuen concludes, “When you hear great singing, you not only hear the art but you hear the words. That can go right to your soul.”



Soloists joining the Angeles Chorale on December 10 are Anush Avetisyan, soprano; Cynthia Jansen, alto; Todd Strange, tenor; Michael Dean, baritone; and Mona Lands, harpsichordist.



Tickets for Messiah are available for $25, general seating, and for $17 for students with a valid ID. Season tickets for three concerts – Messiah, The American Experience on March 23, and Stories of Our Lives on June 9– are available as well for $65. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.angeleschorale.org or call 818.591.1735.



The First United Methodist Church is located at 500 East Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, 91101.