1999, Handel's The Messiah

Audio files provided by Graham Ford. Soloists are named after the titles.

Part 1

1 Overture 2 Comfort Ye - Peter Churchland 3 Every Valley - Peter Churchland 4 And the Glory of the Lord 5 Thus saith the Lord - Tim Warren 6 But who may Abide - Gina Ellis 7 And He Shall Purify 8 Behold a Virgin - Dianne Richter 9 O Thou That Tellest - Dianne Richter 10 For Behold Darkness - Peter Newton 11 The People that Walked - Steven Touzel 12 For Unto Us 13-16 There were Shepherds - Beth Barnett 13-16 There were Shepherds - Mavis Ford 17 Glory to God 18 Rejoice Greatly - Mavis Ford 18 Rejoice Greatly - Beth Barnett 19 Then shall the Eyes - Diane Morgan 20 He Shall Feed - Diane Morgan - Come Unto Him - Anne-Maria 20 He Shall Feed - Anne Callahan - Come Unto Him - Mavis Ford 21 His Yoke is Easy

Part 2

22 Behold the Lamb of God 23 He Was Despised - Robyn Ford 24 Surely He has born our Griefs 25 And with his Stripes 26 All we like Sheep 27 All They that see Him - Gerard Fullarton 28 He Trusted in God 29,30 Behold and See - Darren Rosenfeld 31,32 But thou didst not leave - David Cox 33 Lift up your heads 34 Unto which of the Angels - Gerard Fullarton 35 Let all the Angels 36 Thou art gone out on high - Kim Kocijan 37 The Lord gave the Word 38 How Beautiful are the Feet - Judith O'Shea 38 How Beautiful are the Feet - Gina Ellis 39 Their Sound is gone Out 40 Why do the Nations - Graham Ford 40 Why do the Nations - Tim Warren 41 Let us break their bonds Asunder 42 He that Dwelleth in Heaven - Michael Try 43 Thou shalt Break Them - Michael Try 44 Hallelujah

Part 3

45 I know that my Redeemer Liveth - Nancy Cornwallis 45 I Know That my Redeemer - Lesley Walton 46 Since by man came Death 47,48 The Trumpet Shall Sound - Colin Chapman 50 O Death Where is Thy Sting - Judith O’Shea & David Cox 51 But thanks be to God 52 If God be For Us - Lesley Walton

Unfortunately no more files exist.

Show Program

The oratorio for the end of 1999 was Handel's Messiah, the first time for several years, and it was planned to do the whole work, with a more advanced group doing the lesser-known choruses. Before these performances, three second-hand risers were picked up through the Trading Post, and former member Dennis Hickey made three more.

We had seventy-two in the choir, with twenty soloists, and a professional string quartet accompanying for some, with Ken Peard on organ. Graham and Michael shared the training of the "beginner group".

The first performance, in early October, was at Greensborough Uniting Church and when the rostra arrived at a rehearsal, it was found that they were the wrong ones, so there was another trip to pick up the new ones. Then they forgot the bolts! After they were finally put up and admired, it was found the church had risers anyway.

However, at the performance they were found to be unsuitable, so we used our new ones, without the bolts. At the end Peter Newton didn't realize he had to take them away, so they stayed at the church until other arrangements were made. More grey hairs for the committee! We had over sixty in the choir and a similar number in the audience. The string quartet did well, but struggled to keep up with Beth Barnett's wonderfully lively rendition of "Rejoice Greatly".

The next weekend we went away, performing in Euroa and Shepparton. We had about forty-five in the choir, with a few locals joining in. Ken wasn't impressed with the state of the organ. That became a problem during the performance when a pedal kept sticking. It was also a problem with him being behind the choir having to look in a mirror. We got a standing ovation at the end, and some supper.

The singers were billeted over-night and attended churches in Shepparton next morning to promote the performance. Thank goodness we have a versatile and talented choir, because Graham was suffering. So with Tim Warren coming, he swapped him into "Why do the Nations" and got Gina Ellis to do "But Who May Abide" and sang "Thus Saith the Lord", which worked out well. Ken had a bit of a hiccup in the first solo when he lost concentration and wondered whether he was still playing Handel. He turned back a page, while still playing, recognised that he'd already played that, and returned to where he was. We had a couple of locals singing solos, one being Melbournite Eleanor Kerr with parents from Shepparton.

We headed for Geelong on October 31 to sing at an enormous cathedral in the centre of Geelong. There were fifty in the choir and sixty in the audience, though some of those had come from Melbourne. We had to skip some sections to finish by five, and Ian had to take some tempos slowly to allow for the echo. Afterwards many headed for a pub half way to Colac to celebrate Dianne Richter's birthday with friends and family.

Two of our multi-skilled altos had driven the risers to Geelong in the Morgan's farm truck. Judith excelled herself on the way home as the only competent tier-onner of the slipping load! (The other, totally useless, rolled about under the tray on the side of the Geelong road in hysterics.) They did say that they felt a navy singlet and a tat or two short of the real thing.

The following week we were Bundoora and had a hundred there, which was our best audience. After Michael Try' impressive rendition of "Thou shalt Break Them", there was loud "Amen" from a member the congregation.

A week later the performance was at Ormond Uniting Church where we had sixty in the audience which was less than the choir. The Richter family and Robyn invited everyone back to their place for tea. This was typical of their generosity.

These history notes have been kindly provided by our long-term artistic director and co-founder, Graham Ford.