Concert 2025 - Don't Miss the 75th Anniversary Presentation!
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On December 7, 2025, the Messiah Chorus of Lake County will, for the 75th time, present Handel's Messiah. George Frideric Handel's epic musical masterpiece, composed in just 24 days and taken from sacred Scripture, will be presented at St. Gabriel Catholic Church, 9925 Johnnycake Ridge Road, Concord Township, at 4 p.m. on December 7th. |
Under the direction of conductor Kevin Donahue, more than 150 singers from throughout Northeast Ohio, professional soloists, a string orchestra, piano, organ, harpsichord, and trumpet will be part of this historic presentation.
The event is free and open to all. A freewill offering will be taken.
From the Chorus's humble beginnings at Painesville United Methodist Church, to its many years at Lake Erie College's Morley Music Hall, then to St. John Vianney Church, and now at St. Gabriel Church, the annual presentation has been a labor of love for hundreds of singers and musicians for decades.
Make plans now to attend and be part of this historic 75th anniversary event!
For More Information: Contact Kevin Donahue, conductor
Calling all Singers
This year marks a historic milestone for the Messiah Chorus of Lake County, and we want your voice to be part of the celebration! Whether you are a choral singer or simply like to lift your voice in song, we invite you to join our 75th anniversary performance of Handel's Messiah. Whether you've sung Messiah many times or maybe this is your first, you're welcome to be part of this historic community celebration of a beloved Lake County tradition. We invite all past Chorus members, as well as high school and college singers, church choir directors and music teachers, and more to join this historic 75th celebration presentation on December 7. Experience the joy and power of Handel's masterpiece as part of this milestone season.
Join the Tradition -- Make History -- Change Lives. Click Here to Register for Messiah 2025
What others say about the music:
The Messiah is a work of anguish and promise, of profound worry and resounding joy, all expressed in ingenious, irresistible melodies. Its three parts, or acts, run through ancient prophecies of the birth of a rescuer for the world, then his brutal suffering at the hands of oppressors, then his atonement for the sins of humankind and the promise of eternal life for the redeemed, a set of ideas that, for the Christians who made up the Messiah's first audiences, represented the essence of their faith.
In 1741, George Frideric Handel had started out with a stack of pages in English, a collection of short quotations gleaned from across the scriptures that were held to demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth was the foretold savior. He formed them into solo songs, duets, choruses, and recitatives, the musical connective tissue between the work's various scenes. He sketched the full musical score in London late that summer, premiered the new work in Dublin in the spring of 1742, and then continued to perform it, or at least attend many of the performances, until he died in 1759.
From Every Valley, The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times that Made Handel's Messiah, by Charles King.
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