George Frideric Handel / Messiah
It is arguably the most famous ‘Hallelujah’ in the history of music. Yet Handel’s *Messiah* is far more than just its most famous chorus. The oratorio spans a vast arc, from the Old Testament prophecies through the birth and Passion of Christ to the Resurrection and Redemption.
Yet it does not tell a continuous story: texts from various books of the Bible reflect on the life of Christ and its significance from shifting perspectives.
The choir plays a special role. It does not narrate, but interprets and comments. Handel allows the voices to converse, chase one another and intertwine. In ‘His yoke is easy’, this creates a seemingly weightless interweaving that demands the utmost agility and precision – and which, in the very next moment, can give way to monumental sonority.
Handel fused German, Italian and English musical traditions into a language all of his own. The Berliner Figuralchor aims to reinterpret this well-known Messiah: drawing on a Baroque understanding of sound and expression, in a transparent, rhetorical and agile manner. Articulation, tempo and dynamics all serve to interpret the text. The Berliner Figuralchor most recently demonstrated how familiar music can be made to sound fresh again with Monteverdi’s Marian Vespers in September 2026. Now this spirit of discovery is being applied to Handel’s Messiah: multifaceted, dramatic and surprisingly vibrant – far more than just the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus.
Come and see for yourself – on 11 January 2027 at 7.00 pm in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie.
Programme: George Frideric Handel / Messiah
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes, including an interval
Performers: Berliner Figuralchor, Berlin Baroque and soloists:
- Marie Luise Werneburg | Soprano
- Alex Potter | alto
- Tobias Hunger | Tenor
- Wolf Matthias Friedrich | Bass
Tickets ranging from €14.00 to €54.00 are available via the website
Dates
January 2027
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