A festive evening of song awaits audiences on Friday, Dec. 9 and Saturday, Dec. 10 as the International Symphony Orchestra and friends present an all-Messiah program.
Led by Maestro Douglas Bianchi, the ISO will be joined onstage by the ISO Symphony Singers, a full guest choir as well as soloists – including lyric soprano Emily Douglass, making her second appearance this season as well as tenor and bass soloists accompanying the Symphony Singers – to present a jubilant and joyful musical celebration of the season.
Bianchi said he hopes to make the concert an annual affair.
“We decided that we just weren’t giving our audiences enough by dropping in Messiah segments with the usual familiar Christmastime fare,” he said. “Why not celebrate our first post-pandemic holiday concerts with an all-Messiah program and try to create an unforgettable experience?”
While Handel’s Messiah won’t be presented in its entirety – the show is over two-and-a-half-hours in length, the orchestra will be presenting segments of it in two parts.
“We have developed a two-segment program full of surprise choices and stunning solo arias,” he said. “Going forward, we’re committed to sharing this ageless work across centuries for our bridged-community audiences each holiday season.”
The ISO’s all-Messiah program will be performed on Friday, Dec. 9 at Bethel Pentecostal Church in Sarnia and on Saturday, Dec. 10 at Port Huron’s McMorran Place Theatre. A livestream will also be available for the concerts (available at https://www.theiso.org/subscribe/).
Tickets and subscriptions can be purchased in Canada at https://tinyurl.com/ISO65MessiahCAN and in America at https://tinyurl.com/ISO65MessiahUS.
For more information or for tickets, call 519-337-7775 (Canada) or 810-984-8857 (US), visit www.theiso.org or email [email protected].