The grandeur and glory of Handel's "Messiah" exploded into Hill Auditorium this past weekend as the University Musical Society Choral Union continued its 118-year tradition - once again astonishing the audience with the sheer intensity with which they performed it.
The four soloists were huge assets to the musical quality of the work. Soprano soloist Janet Williams sang with the beautiful operatic sound that has landed her roles with the New York Metropolitan Opera. Her voice was the only one that managed to completely fill the auditorium - its strength and beauty was showcased best in the soprano solo of "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth."
Baritone Kevin McMillian also deserves an especially hardy congratulations for his performance. His deep bass exuded a strength that carried him well above the background of the orchestra - falling just short of completely filling Hill. Handel requires a lot of vocal theatrics involving speedy musical runs. McMillian handled these with great skill, as shown in "For Behold, Darkness Shall Cover the Earth."
The other two soloists also deserve significant praise. Mezzo-soprano Malin Fritz and tenor William Watson did excellent work, especially with their duet in "O Death, Where is Thy Sting?" Their voices blended miraculously - creating a sound both beautiful and strong. When singing alone, their voices had great tone but lack the intensity and dynamic diversity of the other two soloists.
The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra provided an excellent performance in and of itself. Its dynamic control was both accommodating to the soloists and powerful enough to match the output of the chorus - maintaining the intensity necessary for Handel's work throughout the duration of the evening.
The string section's offering was alone a marvel, pulling off extremely complex parts while showing the energy and passion running through them with the body movements they made.
First trumpet David Kuehn also deserves a special recognition for his personal performance. While the trumpet part is somewhat sparse in the oratorio, Kuehn came out strong when he played, especially in the "Hallelujah Chorus" and "The Trumpet Shall Sound."
The chorus was definitely the best part of the performance. Their strength and versatility while singing in unison was showcased in all 17 choruses, bouncing from a quiet whisper to a literal roar as they filled the auditorium with music. Despite a few technical errors among the tenors and baritones, the individual sections also performed exceptionally alone - another augmentation to their diversity.
One of the most unique things done in this production was the audience joining the chorus in singing the "Hallelujah Chorus" - it drew the audience in, making us feel closer to the performance. It did have a few minor drawbacks - someone standing near me sounded like he had just swallowed all of the frogs from the bio-labs of Pioneer High School. But all in all, it was a huge boost to the overall entertainment value of the show.
The performance was indeed a milestone in UMS' season. The talent on the stage of Hill Auditorium successfully executed a complex musical piece without any major problems or glaring deficiencies. The five-minute standing ovation the artists received on Saturday night was probably one of the most well-deserved in Hill Auditorium's history.
Fritz and Watson performed "O Death, Where is Thy Sting?" at Saturday's show.