Handel's Messiah to create history in Mayo county town

THE classic and much-loved Handel's Messiah will be staged at the Church of the Holy Rosary, Castlebar, on Sunday, November 25, at 7 p.m.

Hosted jointly by the Vocalessence Choir and Mayo Concert Orchestra, it is destined to be an historic occasion as it's the first time a local orchestra has performed the musical masterpiece composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel.

Messiah was first performed in Dublin on April, 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later.

After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in western music.

The Castlebar concert will be headlined by the accomplished voices of soprano solistist Regina Nathan, mezzo solist Anna Louise Costello and tenor soloist Sean Tunney, while the compere is RTÉ newsreader Eileen Dunne.

Regina Nathan’s career in opera, concert and recital has taken her from her native Ireland across Europe and as far as Kuala Lumpur and New York’s Carnegie Hall. A devoted recitalist, Regina’s talents also embrace everything from classic Lieder to traditional Irish song.

She has enraptured audiences throughout Ireland, London’s Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and famously with Placido Domingo in a sold-out audience at Dublin’s Point Theatre.

Her recordings include Britten, Complete Folk Song Arrangements (Hyperion), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (BMG), Donizetti’s Maria de Rudenz (Opera Rara) and of course Faith Of Our Fathers, alongside Frank Patterson

Regina divides her time between Dublin, Berlin, London and her home in Co. Clare.

Irish mezzo-soprano Anna Louise Costello is a graduate, with distinctions, of the DIT Conservatory of Music, Dublin, and the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Since launching her professional career in 2009, she has made a big name for herself in the world of classical and opera singing, performing at prestigious concerts in Hamburg, Berlin, London and Oslo.

Sean Tunney, in his early 20s, is starting out on his career. A native of Castlebar, he is a graduate of St. Gerald's College where he set a very high standard for musical excellence during his time there under the tuition of teacher, Ms. Jennifer Hiney. Now he is looking forward to his first major performance in his home town.

Tickets (€20) are currently on sale for the concert and can be purchased from IT Music on Cavendish Lane, The Connaught Telegraph offices on Main Street, or by phone to the box office on (087) 6218282.