Music director and conductor George Hanson will conduct the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in the MasterWorks Chamber Orchestra Special, Messiah! at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Catalina Foothills High School, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive.
The TSO will be joined by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, directed by Bruce Chamberlain, and four soloists who are returning to perform with the TSO after making their debuts last year in Handel's holiday favorite with its Hallelujah Chorus.
Messiah! is Handel's most popular work and one of the most beloved masterpieces of the choral repertoire.
The work features arias, sinfonias and choruses. Handel keenly sensed the mass appeal of staging familiar Biblical tales. He crafted Messiah! for operatic forces — choir, orchestra and soloists — but dispensed with the costlier elements of theatrical productions, such as sets and costumes. Its form is a dramatic oratorio, combining elements of Italian opera with the German Passions.
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Handel spent just one month composing Messiah! It was first performed April 13, 1742, at a charity concert near Dublin's Temple Bar district. It is an especially enduring masterpiece because of its universal appeal. The chorus plays a pivotal role in telling the story, whose text was compiled from the King James Version of the Old and New Testaments.
Tickets — $30, $35 and $40 — are available at the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Box Office at 2175 N. Sixth Ave or by phone at 882-8585. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.tucsonsymphony.org.
TSO Box Office hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
