Upcoming Projects

Project One : Making Messiah

How did a piece like Messiah come into being? How many hidden hands were at work behind-the-scenes as one of the great masterpieces of Western music was written? Join us in a fantastical imagining of Handel’s own music room circa 1742 as he and a small orchestra of friends put the final touches on his new work.

The legend surrounding masterworks is so universal that it often dehumanizes our understanding of the messy processes that produce a polished piece. The creative carnage involved in giving birth to a work like Messiah, that we daily regard as “always being and always been” is hard to imagine. However, this pillar of Western culture has a less glamourous origin than you might expect. Strapped for cash from a struggling opera company and looking for new ideas, Handel agreed to write a new oratorio for the city of Dublin based on the life of Jesus. In just three weeks, Handel furiously scratched out new material, adapted old, and sometimes blatantly stole from other composers to create the first version of the piece we know as Messiah. Andersen’s Nightingale would like to invite you to join us in a flight of fancy where we join Handel just a few short hours before traveling to Dublin to rehearse the piece’s premiere. He has called a few of his musicians together to help him put the finishing touches on the new work and hear what he’s written for the very first time.

From early versions of favorite arias and source material for pieces that would eventually become canon, to a bit of grumbling and mumbling amongst colleagues, you’ll get an insiders look at how the Messiah came into being. All with a little dramatic flair.