A risk-taking 'Messiah': PSO to stage oratorio much like opera
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Soprano soloist Laura Heimes rehearses for PSO's new staging of Handel's "Messiah."
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This December, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will present Handel's "Messiah" as it's never been seen before. The orchestra will treat Handel's famous oratorio of 1742 like an opera. Instead of the stand-and-sing tradition, it will be staged -- complete with set, costumes and choreography. The Mendelssohn Choir and soloists will move about on the Heinz Hall stage while the PSO will move below to the little-used pit in front.
While few opera companies have attempted this in the past, most famously Achim Freyer at the Deutsche Oper in 1985, the PSO is considered to be the first orchestra to do so. And the production, created by noted stage director Sam Helfrich, will interpret the work in a way that is sure to be make audiences stand up and notice -- not unlike King George II is said to have done during "Hallelujah" Chorus.
Manfred Honeck, conductor; Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh; Laura Heimes, soprano, Lindsay Ammann, mezzo-soprano, William Ferguson, tenor, and Philip Cutlip, baritone.
When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2:30 p.m. next Sunday.
Where: Heinz Hall, Downtown.
Tickets: Start at $20; 412-392-4900 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org.
The irony here is that Handel would have preferred "Messiah" to be an opera. Or rather, that had he been able to, he would have written a secular opera instead. To Handel (1685-1759), opera was where the action was; it was the most prestigious art form in England and all of Europe. He only began writing oratorios at 50 years of age, and his hands were tied in the case of "Messiah," which was written because operas were forbidden during Lent.
"You can say the music is so strong it doesn't need to be added to," says PSO music director Manfred Honeck. "But this piece was composed 300 years ago. Then it was new and people were excited. They hadn't heard it before. But today we have many new things. To give the message strongly it helps to have it reflect our time."
But don't look for a literal adaptation of the work that conflates biblical passages and verse from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to convey the prophecy, life and afterlife of Jesus Christ.
"You won't see Mary, Joseph and a donkey," says Mr. Helfrich. "It is not about telling a story. It only obliquely references it."
First Published November 27, 2011 12:00 am
