ON STAGE
What:聽Handel鈥檚 Messiah
Where: and
奥丑别苍:听Thursday, Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m.
础诲尘颈蝉蝉颈辞苍:听Free/by donation to
Soile Stratkauskas has been a performer long enough to know that a busy Christmas concert season 鈥� while affirming in terms of audience support 鈥� can be difficult to navigate when you aren鈥檛 one of the long-established arts entities in town.
But years of experience has also taught the founding artistic director of Victoria Baroque that when life presents you with a golden programming opportunity, you seize it 鈥� especially when it involves Handel鈥檚 Messiah, one of the surest events of the Christmas season.
鈥淭ypically, December is filled with Messiahs in Victoria,鈥� Stratkauskas said. 鈥淲hen we realized because of COVID it was going to be a small-scale year, we thought we could do a very nice, small-scale Messiah.鈥�
Victoria Baroque is tackling Handel鈥檚 enduring hit for the first time Thursday with an all-star roster of Vancouver Island soloists and chamber musicians, ranging from Isaiah Bell, one of the top tenors in the country, to violinist Christi Meyers, the assistant concertmaster of the Victoria Symphony.
Stratkauskas, who founded Victoria Baroque in 2010, is excited to be offering Messiah for the first time in the company鈥檚 decade-long history, even if plans for it to be staged in front of a live audience had to be scrapped several weeks ago due to social-distancing measures.
Victoria Baroque鈥檚 Messiah was also scheduled to be performed in Duncan at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre, but that was also cancelled. Instead, the Cowichan Symphony Society, the show鈥檚 co-presenter, is sending its livestreaming film crew to capture Bell, Meyers and others and stream it live at 7:30 p.m. from the stage of St. John the Divine on Quadra Street.
The video can been viewed for free at either or . The team producing this socially distanced production is small, but the nine artists involved are well-equipped to handle Handel鈥檚 iconic Hallelujah chorus, Stratkauskas said.
鈥淲e have all the parts covered, but there is no mass choir or orchestra. It鈥檚 a much more nimble version.鈥�
