Handel: the man behind the hit. Photo: Handel's Messiah
David Burchell Photo: supplied
Christmas comes but once a year, but it brings a lot of Messiahs with it.
Performances of Handel's much-loved oratorio are coming up around the country, and around the world.
RNZ Concert spoke to one of the music directors getting ready to present it, David Burchell, who conducts City Choir Dunedin.
City Choir Dunedin. Photo: Bill Nichol
He credits the enduring popularity of Handel's depiction of the life, death and resurrection of Christ with the power of the story, the biblical text, but perhaps most importantly, Handel's ability to set that text to music with so many catchy tunes.
Burchell, who's been directing City Choir Dunedin since 2000, will conduct Messiah in the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday 29 November, with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra.
They'll be joined by soloists, soprano Joanna Foote, mezzo-soprano Maaike Christie-Beekman, tenor Jordan Fuimaono and bass David Greco.
