The Glasshouse

Messiah

The Latin word “orare” means “to pray”, and in the baroque era an Oratorio was a large-scale work for chorus, solo singers and (usually) an orchestra, telling a religious story. A performance of an oratorio tended (naturally enough) to be a major musical occasion in church. It was Georg Frederic Handel, in London, who realised that oratorios could make just as much of an impact in the secular world – and possibly turn a profit, too. By the 1730s Handel was all too aware of the prohibitive cost of staging Italian opera in London, and opera was forbidden during Lent anyway. Oratorios offered an alternative: telling a suitable Biblical story in the audience’s own language, with stirring choruses instead of expensive scenery.

Between 1732 and 1757 Handel presented over twenty English oratorios – drawing enthusiastic audiences from an emerging (and entertainment-hungry) middle class. Handel composed Messiah in 1741: a meditation on Christ’s life, passion and resurrection, compiled from Biblical texts by Charles Jennens – a Protestant dissenter who hoped (he said) that Handel would “lay out his whole Genius & Skill upon it, that the Composition may excell all his former Compositions, as the Subject excells every other subject.”

Messiah was premiered in Dublin in April 1742, and actually took a while to become popular in England. But when it did, it caught fire – and unusually for the 18^th century, its popularity outlasted Handel’s own lifetime. An important part of its appeal – perhaps unusually for a work compiled from scripture – lay in the personal dimension that Jennens had brought to his choice of words, and the way in which he arranged them. Handel responded with striking conviction – and in choruses such as Worthy is the Lamb, For unto us a Child is Born and of course Hallelujah he deployed all his contrapuntal and monumental skill in music that seemed to give voice to a whole people.

Like any cultural landmark, Messiah has acquired its own legends. For many years, Handel was closely involved with the Foundling Hospital, London’s leading orphanage, and it was at a royal charity performance of the Hallelujah chorus in 1749 that King George II is said to have risen spontaneously to his feet. The audience followed suit: launching a tradition (wholly optional, of course) that survives to this day. Yet as a Non-Juror, Jennens was barred from public life in 18^th century England. The words of He was despised carried a powerful personal resonance, and Handel’s setting caused a sensation at the Dublin premiere, where it was performed by Susanna Cibber – famous among her contemporaries for her troubled private life. As she finished singing, a clergyman in the audience leaped to his feet and cried, “Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!”

Scottish-born, Paris based soprano Rachel Redmond is establishing herself as a most sought-after interpreter of baroque repertoire. Appearing at major venues and festivals throughout Europe, her recent Handel roles have attracted particular praise. Having started her earlier career with Le Jardin du Voix, the young artist’s programme of Les Arts Florissants, Rachel has performed extensively with the group in programmes of the French baroque masters as well as Purcell, Handel and Bach directed by both William Christie and Paul Agnew.

Rachel Redmond made her stage début at the Opéra Comique in Lully Atys. Her other opera appearances include the Aix-en-Provence Festival (Second Woman Dido & Aeneas), Théâtre du Châtelet (Loena La Belle Hélène), the Göttingen International Handel Festival (Dalinda Ariodante), Opéra du Rhin (Fortuna L’Incoronazione di Poppea), the Edinburgh International Festival (Papagena Die Zauberflöte), English Touring Opera (Susanna The Marriage of Figaro) and Irish National Opera and the Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre (Aminta in Vivaldi L’Olimpiade). In concert she has also sung the roles of Dorinda Orlando with the Academy of Ancient Music / Laurence Cummings, Doña Isabel The Indian Queen at the Salzburg Festival with the Utopia Orchestra / Teodor Currentzis.

Concert engagement include Bach B Minor Mass with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / John Butt at the BBC Proms; Purcell and Handel with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra Kristian Bezuidenhout; Handel Esther and London Handel Festival/ Laurence Cummings and Bach and Handel with The English Concert / Harry Bicket. Aside from period ensembles Rachel has worked with the Northern Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras. She counts amongst her musical collaborators conductors Christophe Rousset, Trevor Pinnock, Leonardo Garcia Alarcón and Jordi Savall.

Tenor James Way is fast gaining international recognition for the versatility of his voice and commanding stage presence. James is passionate about a career taking in a variety of music as both performer and artistic director. Having followed his initial interest in baroque music through the young artist programmes of Les Arts Florissants and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment he immediately became in demand as a soloist for conductors including William Christie, Rene Jacobs, Harry Bicket and Trevor Pinnock.

Equally comfortable in later repertoire his performances include Flute in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Dalia Stasevska at Glyndebourne Festival and also for Garsington Festival under Douglas Boyd , The Son in Laurent Pelly’s production of Les Mamelles de Tiresias (winner of Best New Opera Production at the 2022 Opera Awards) with Robin Ticciati also for Glyndebourne Festival, Holy Fool Boris Godunov with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Jakub Hrůša. Lechmere Owen Wingrave for Grange Park Opera, Sellem in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress with the Munich Philharmonic and Barbara Hannigan and a number of performances of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with orchestras including the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic with Barbara Hannigan, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Sinfonica de Milano with Alpesh Chauhan OBE.

This coming season’s highlights include a return to the Göteborgs Symfoniker for Mozart’s Requiem under Barbara Hannigan, Die Schöpfung with the CBSO under Kazuki Yamada, several performances of Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno Tempo with the Irish Baroque and on tour with Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, Handel Solomon at the Goettingen Handel Festival with Georg Petrou and with the Gabrieli Consort and tours with The English Concert and Harry Bicket. Recitals this season include collaborations with Julius Drake and Richard Watkins, Lute songs with Elizabeth Kenny and the complete Britten Canticles at Milton Court alongside pianist Natalie Burch. He will also release a new recording of the Canticles for Delphian Records.

Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia is a vital part of the Royal Northern Sinfonia musical family, based at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead. They shine in the great choral masterpieces by Handel, Haydn and Mozart, excel with contemporary classical music by today’s brightest composers, and bring film scores to life at screenings of Hollywood blockbusters such as Home Alone, Hocus Pocus and Star Wars.

In 2023, they celebrated their 50th anniversary with Mozart’s Requiem and five contemporary pieces from the last five years, Schumann’s rarely-performed oratorio Die Paradise und die Peri and Bruckner’s Mass No. 3 as part of The Glasshouse’s Big Bruckner Weekend. In the 2024/25 season they sang Handel’s Messiah, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with hundreds of musicians from across the North East in The Glasshouse’s latest Share the Stage performance.

As well as traditional classical music, the Chorus also enjoy new contemporary music, giving the world premiere of All My Ships Are White by Sarah Lianne Lewis in July 2022, commissioning A blue and tender flower by Kerensa Briggs to mark our 50th anniversary in October 2023 and including Eleanor Cully-Boehringer’s Snow on Snow in festive concert tour A Choral Nativity.

Beyond the concert hall, the Chorus regularly perform on their own across the North East and Cumbria – popping up in parks, churches and community venues on their summer tours and spreading festive joy at Christmas. They often collaborate with other choirs in the region, including Gateshead Care Home Choir, Durham University Choral Society, Voices of the River’s Edge, and Huddersfield Choral Society for BBC Proms at The Glasshouse.

Founded in 1973 by Royal Northern Sinfonia’s timpanist Alan Fearon, the Chorus currently has over 90 members and has built a brilliant reputation for musical excellence over its 50-year history. The future is bright, with exciting opportunities growing every year, and new members are welcome at any time.