A Visitors View of the Messiah Performances Easter 2008

As a temporary escapee from Yorkshire, I was privileged to hear the St Mary’s Singers from Potton give two performances of Handel’s Messiah on March 15 and 16 at St Mary’s Church, Potton and the Trinity Methodist Church in Biggleswade. Both performances featured four excellent soloists, who all gave pleasant renditions of the various Arias and Airs, whilst Trevor did sterling work on the keyboard in both concerts, assisted by an eleven piece orchestra,  at St Mary’s Church. At Biggleswade, the choir was accompanied by Trevor alone. His interpretation of the trumpet in the Air “The Trumpet Shall Sound”, was amazing and was the highlight of a brilliant performance. The energetic Musical Director, Douglas Coombes, brought the two performances together from the podium with some thoughtful dynamics in the choruses and it was pleasing to see that the choir watched and followed Douglas’s directions, a characteristic often lacking in some choirs. The choir, with strong Sopranos and  Basses, hardworking Tenors and with a very pleasant sounding Alto section, performed the “Hallelujah” chorus to great effect but for me, the shorter chorus “Since by Man came Death” was the pick of the concert.

Thank you St Mary’s Singers for two enjoyable concerts.

 Frank, from Yorkshire