On Sunday evening 25 March, members and friends of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Adelaide gathered at the Firle meetinghouse for a special Easter musical event.
As part of Easter celebrations, the world famous 360-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Symphonic Orchestra at Temple Square, and four renowned guest opera soloists performed Handel's Messiah in its entirety on Friday, March 23 in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was shown by delayed broadcast around the world and in Adelaide.
Many of those in attendance enjoyed watching and listening to the oratorio as they began their preparations for Easter the following week. Some also came prepared to join in the group singing sections together with the Choir, as well as “virtually” with many other groups around the world participating in the broadcast.
When asked about the opportunity to virtually sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Jared Barnes replied, "It was a very special experience."
George Frederic Handel wrote Messiah in the late summer of 1741 and it has been performed ever since, usually at Easter and Christmas seasons as musically and lyrically it focuses on the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah sent to save the world.
Handel completed the entire score in only 24 days. Later eras would attribute this swiftness to divine inspiration, though Handel composed other works of comparable size, more secular in nature, just as quickly. The miracle of Messiah’s composition then is not how rapidly Handel wrote the music, but how comprehensively astute, finely-detailed, and consistently powerful it is in bearing witness of the Saviour of the world.