Three hundred Adelaide music lovers gathered at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Firle chapel on Sunday 3rd April to enjoy Handel’s Complete Messiah oratorio with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Members of four community choirs, the Corinthian Singers, Choir Cecilia, Illumina, and the Alexandrina Singers joined a dozen singers from the Church in singing the choruses with the Choir to the delight of the rest of the audience.
Sheila Brown expressed the audience’s enthusiasm after the concert in these words, “I loved the evening! I enjoyed listening to the live singers as much as the Tabernacle Choir. They added so much to the performance.”
Jane Feast, a community private singing teacher, summed up the feelings of the Sing participants by saying, “As a veteran of two fully rehearsed Messiah performances and seven ‘come and sing’ events, I feel the Messiah sing in Adelaide was both musically and spiritually uplifting. I’m sure it will be even better in the coming years if it becomes part of the Adelaide choral calendar.”
Members of the Multifaith Association of South Australia also attended the event. Firle Stake President Rainer Korte said there were many highlights to the night. “The music was inspiring, and so were the messages about Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Redeemer of us all. It was also wonderful to have the feeling of fellowship and inclusivity there. We will certainly look at hosting a Messiah Sing again, given we are being asked by both our Church members and our friends in the community.”
In the spirit of the first ever performance of Messiah – which was a benefit concert for the poor – $700 worth of food items were collected for donation to the local St Vincent de Paul charity.
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