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KOOR SINGERS & PLAYERS www.koor.app present The Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah St John’s Smith Square www.sjss.org.uk December 11th, 2020 Tonight’s performance will be without interval Box Office helpline number 020 7222 1061 In accordance with the requirements of Westminster City Council, persons shall not be permitted to sit or stand in any gangway. The taking of photographs and use of recording equipment is strictly forbidden without formal consent from St John's Smith Square. Smoking is not permitted anywhere in St John’s Smith Square. Please ensure that all digital watch alarms, pagers, and mobile phones are switched off. Refreshments are not permitted in the building other than bottled water. In accordance with Government guidance, St John’s Smith Square has undertaken a COVID-19 risk assessment and will be implementing safety procedures for the benefit of artists, audience members and staff. All ticket holders are asked to read and follow the guidelines issued to them prior to and during the event. St John's Smith Square Charitable Trust. Registered Charity No. 1045390. Registered in England. Company No. 3028678 Tonight’s performers Miriam Allan SOPRANO Helen Charlston MEZZO SOPRANO Jeremy Budd TENOR Dingle Yandell BASS KOOR SINGERS & PLAYERS Sarah Sexton LEADER Simon Capet CONDUCTOR Programme Messiah, Part 1 Scene 1: "Isaiah's prophecy of salvation" Scene 2: "The prophecy of the coming of Messiah Scene 3: "The prophecy of the Virgin Birth" Scene 4: "The appearance of the Angels to the Shepherds" Scene 5: "Christ's redemptive miracles on earth" “Hallelujah” Notes Messiah by George Frederick Handel When Handel settled in London in 1712 there was already a thriving Italian opera scene and he soon became its leading figure, with a succession of brilliant works flowing from his pen. However, then, as now, the economics of opera were constantly on a knife-edge and making a profit on these costly ventures was difficult and unpredictable. Despite their critical acclaim, Handel’s Italian operas never attracted large audiences. They were mainly supported by the aristocracy and the upper classes. Public taste was changing quickly, though, and by the 1730s people were becoming increasingly intolerant of the unfamiliar language, ridiculous plots, arrogant soloists and over-elaborate music. They now demanded something less highbrow and more home-grown. Box office revenues started to plummet as rival companies competed with each other for the dwindling audiences and the costs of opera production escalated. Handel had invested heavily in his own company and this alarming collapse seriously affected his finances. Faced with possible bankruptcy the ever-resourceful composer turned to oratorio as a potential solution to his financial difficulties. Though oratorio has much in common with opera it is not staged and is consequently a great deal less costly to produce. It was a genre in which Handel had already experienced some modest success, beginning with his first English oratorio, Esther, composed in 1720. He now found himself working more and more on oratorios and in February 1741 he staged his last Italian opera, which closed after just three performances. Handel's oratorios were deliberately aimed at a new audience: the Protestant middle classes. The musical style was largely direct and straightforward and the librettos, in English, were generally based on passages from the Old Testament, a common literary heritage with which everyone was thoroughly familiar. In an era of increasing prosperity and expanding empire these vivid Biblical stories of larger than life heroes leading a people who, if they followed God’s law, were specially protected and given victory over their enemies, must have held particular resonance for the middle classes of eighteenth century London. Musically, Handel’s most significant innovation was his use of the chorus, which was given a much greater role and now enjoyed equal status with the soloists. His monumental style of choral writing, calculated to impress with great blocks of vocal sound – exemplified in such pieces as the 1727 coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest – was ideally suited to the task. In 1741 Handel had already begun work on a new work, Messiah, when he received an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to visit Dublin. He accepted the invitation, taking his Messiah score with him. It was first performed at the New Music Hall, Dublin, in April 1742, and was an unqualified success. One effusive review ran: ‘Words are wanting, to express the exquisite Delight [Messiah] afforded to the admiring, crowded Audience. The Sublime, the Grand and the Tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick and moving Words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished Heart and Ear.’ In addition to its musical impact, its success was also due to the general approval of the donation of a large part of the proceeds to various Dublin charitable institutions, a pattern later repeated in London with Handel’s association with the Foundling Hospital. Though Messiah shares many common characteristics with Handel’s other twenty or so oratorios, it is the least typical in several respects: it has more choruses than any other except Israel in Egypt; it does not have a newly written libretto but one compiled from existing short passages from the Bible; and it has no named characters or overall narrative, presenting instead a series of contemplations on the life of Christ and Christian redemption. The success of Messiah owes much to the fine libretto compiled for Handel by Charles Jennens, who had previously collaborated with him on his oratorio Saul. Jennens’ extensive knowledge of literature and music made him in many ways an ideal creative partner for Handel, though the relationship was not without its tensions. John Bawden Performers Biographies Miriam Allan - Soprano ​ The “sublime singing” (Gramophone) of Soprano Miriam Allan has been enjoyed across the world, from her native Australia, through Japan and Singapore, as well as at festivals throughout Europe and North America. 2019 saw her return to Australia as an artist in residence at the Newcastle Music Festival, sing Iphis (Handel Jeptha) at Trigonale Festival, perform as Emma Kirkby’s guest during the latter’s 70th birthday recital at the Wigmore Hall, and sing Handel and Corelli motets with Les Arts Florissants prior to continuing their cycle of Gesualdo Madrigals. She performed Bach Cantatas for Christmas with David Bates’ La Nuova Musica at London St John’s, Smith Square and at the Wigmore Hall for “A French Affair” in early 2020. Of her performance as Josabeth (Handel Athalia for Pinchgut Opera), the Sydney Morning Herald said: “Miriam Allan…. sang with ravishing sound, limpid elegance and precision, decorating lines with stylish ornamental arabesque”. Recently, she debuted with Sir Roger Norrington and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Purcell Dido and Aeneas 2nd Woman) as well as Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Wigmore Hall with John Butt and the Dunedin Consort and her debut with Portland Baroque, performing Messiah. Other recent highlights have included Bach cantatas at the BBC Proms, a recital of Dowland lute songs in Windsor Castle and performances with the Queensland Orchestra and Erin Helyard. On the opera stage, she is a regular company soloist with Pinchgut Opera. For the Innsbruck Festival, she has sung Galatea and various roles in Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera Comique in Paris and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. Other roles include Queen of the Night (Mozart Magic Flute) and Musica (Monteverdi Orfeo) and roles in Rameau Dardanus. She has appeared alongside Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists, Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan, Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra and Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Concerto Copenhagen as well as conductor William Christie, Stephen Layton and Laurence Cummings and orchestra including the BBC Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Les Violins du Roy, Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music. Her discography includes the Gramophone award-winning series of Monteverdi Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew, as well as Mozart Requiem with Leipzig Kammerorchester, a recital of Handel and Purcell on ABC Classics and Pinchgut Opera’s series of live recordings. Despite the enforced performing break the pandemic has enforced on 2020, Miriam has been fortunate to perform with he Early Opera Company, Collegium Vocale Gent and continues her relationship with Les Arts Florissants, with whom she’ll sing a Vivaldi Gala at the Opera Garnier this Christmas. Helen Charlston - Mezzo-soprano ​ Acclaimed for her musical interpretation and “warmly distinctive tone” (The Telegraph), Helen Charlston won first prize in 2018 London Handel Singing Competition and was a finalist in the 2019 Grange Festival International Singing Competition. She was a founder participant of the Rising Star of the Enlightenment programme, working alongside the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as a soloist for two seasons; and is a member of Les Arts Florissants Young Artist Programme (Jardin des Voix) for 2021/22. Helen is a City Music Foundation Artist. Recent highlights include solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Halle Handel Festival and Oxford Lieder Festival, and debuts with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Slovenia Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Academy of Ancient Music. Helen’s Isolation Songbook, a collection of 15 songs by 15 different composers, was commissioned and premiered during the first UK lockdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The set will be released on Delphian Records in March 2021. Often heard on BBC Radio 3 in live concert relays, Helen features on recordings of Bach B Minor Mass (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Trinity College Choir), and Bach Actus Tragicus & Himmelskönig sei willkommen (Amici Voices/Amici Baroque Players), both available from Hyperion.

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