07 Apr 2025
The Hardynge Choir will perform the oratorio ‘Messiah’ by G F Handel at St Nicholas Church in Harpenden on Saturday.
Messiah was written for soloists, choir and orchestra and tells the story of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
Born in Halle, Germany, George Frederic Handel was a German British composer. He spent his early life in Hamburg and Italy before moving to London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career.
Messiah was premiered in Dublin in 1742 and was performed in London a year later.
The choir will be conducted by music director Michael Veazey and accompanied by a specialist baroque ensemble, the Hertfordshire Baroque Soloists, led by Diane Terry.
Hertfordshire Baroque Soloists bring together leading period instrument players in an ensemble dedicated to the performance of 17th and 18th century music.
In attempting to recreate the musical sound of the Baroque, the instruments used either date from the period or are copies of instruments of the period.
They will be joined by four soloists:
- Lorena Paz Nieto – Award-winning Spanish soprano, previous winner of the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform award, the Ludmilla Andrews Russian Song Prize, and ‘Vocalist of the Year’ at the 2019 LUKAS awards;
- Catherine Backhouse – Alto, a founder member of the a cappella group Voces8 with whom she sung for three years before training on the prestigious Opera Studies and Artist Diploma programmes at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama;
- John Gyeantey – Tenor, who is steadily gaining a reputation as a fine exponent of the bel canto repertoire.
- Andrew Tipple – Bass. Andrew studied at the Royal Academy of Music as the recipient of the Elton John scholarship and later the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he was a member of the Alexander Gibson Opera School, graduating in 2013.
Martyn Noble will be organ continuo. Martyn has spent over 10 years working at His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, both as sub-organist and acting director of music.
Tickets for the show, on Saturday April 12 at 7.30pm, are available via the website www.hardyngechoir.org at a price of £18 for adults, £9 for students and free for under-16s.
