Gordon Spice To Co-Conduct With Williamson
The Rockbridge Choral Society is bringing back its Community “Messiah” Sing on Saturday, Nov. 15, more than two decades since the community last gathered to sing George Frideric Handel’s famous oratorio.
Founded in 1975, The Rockbridge Choral Society (RCS) is reviving the “Messiah” sing in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The performance will be held at 3 p.m. at Lexington Presbyterian Church and feature Part 1 and the “Hallelujah Chorus” of “Messiah.”
“The Chorus gave a full ‘Messiah’ performance with orchestra and soloists at the Lenfest Center about 20 years ago,” said William McCorkle, Rockbridge Chorus artistic director. “As the Chorus schedule evolved to always include a December Holiday Concert, the ‘Messiah’ Sings ceased. While we’ve talked for years about reviving the event, the spark that worked this time was the occasion of this banner year, and thinking about what we might do to make it special. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring it back.”
Former Rockbridge Chorus conductor Gordon Spice will co-conduct the community “Messiah” sing with Scott Williamson, who became the chorus’ associate director a few months ago.
Spice conducted the first RCS “Messiah” sing. He said he is excited to welcome back the sing-along concert so many years later. “It hasn’t been done for a long, long time, and it seemed appropriate on the 50th anniversary that we would bring it back,” he said.
While choruses around the country hold “Messiah” sings during the holiday season, Spice said RCS’s sing-along is unique because everyone has the opportunity to sing the solos known as arias.
The community members separate into sopranos, altos, tenors and basses to sing the piece. The groups for each part sing their respective solos and come together for the choral movements.
Spice said he still remembers the feeling of hearing all of the tenors sing the “Comfort Ye My People” and “Every Valley Shall be Exalted” arias together. “It was just a thrill to direct all of the tenors to do the solo,” Spice said. “This was an opportunity for choral singers, who normally would only be singing the choruses, to actually sing the solos as well.”
Through the middle half of the 20th century, Mary Monroe Penick, the former organist and choir director at Lexington Presbyterian Church, mounted a number of community oratorio performances, including some of the first “Messiah” performances in western Virginia. Penick’s effort laid the foundation for community musical efforts, eventually leading to the founding of the Rockbridge Chorus. The Rockbridge Chorus (and Orchestra) were born out of these community efforts.
Spice’s start as a conductor in the community, beyond his work at Washington and Lee, came about unexpectedly, after he had joined the tenor section for a Brahms “Requiem” performance Penick was preparing.
“The week before the performance was to take place, she fell and broke her collarbone. And she called me and she said, ‘Gordon, this is what’s happened. Can you conduct the performance?’ I said, ‘Yes, I would.’” Not long afterward, Spice became the first conductor of the newly formed Rockbridge Chorus.
The “Messiah” Sing is open to everyone in the community regardless of experience. McCorkle said he hopes many participants will be able to bring their music, but there will be a limited supply of extra scores. Those who just want to listen are also invited to attend.
“One thing that we want to make sure of is that if you come to this event, you don’t have to sing,” Spice said. “We would love to have people come and just enjoy the music of ‘Messiah’ during the holiday season, for the sheer joy of hearing the pieces sung.Wesay, come one, come all, listen and enjoy.”
