Choral Society ‘Resurrects’ Handel’s ‘Messiah’ for Easter, Adds Español

Around these parts, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah generally gets performed only in December, in advance of Christmas, frequently as a sing-along or featuring just the famous “Hallelujah” chorus, and always as it was written in English. This weekend, the Santa Barbara Choral Society is rolling out the beloved oratorio. This most familiar of choral pieces tells the story of Jesus – from birth to death to Resurrection and beyond – with text taken directly and exclusively from scripture dating back to the pre-Easter period. There will be a performance on Palm Sunday at Trinity Lutheran Church. 

But that’s not the most interesting aspect of the April 12 & 13 concerts. The Choral Society’s innovative performance combines Handel’s words with portions of a Spanish-language libretto by Mario Montenegro that was commissioned and premiered by Bach Collegium in San Diego and Tijuana in 2020 under the title of El Mesías. 

“The bilingual aspect represents outreach into our Spanish-speaking community,” said JoAnne Wasserman, the Choral Society’s artistic director. “It’s such a great piece and we’re very excited to bring it alive in two languages. I think it might be the first time that it has been done bilingually at all. So we’re thrilled.” 

Wasserman and her assistant selected the sections for the English-Spanish interweaving, adding a contemporary and culturally inclusive dimension to the classical masterpiece after receiving an endorsement from Bach Collegium, which has said that the work “belongs to the people” rather than being a “frozen artifact.” The Messiah / El Mesías concert will include all of Part I and selections from Part II and III of the famed piece.

“Some of the choruses will be sung in Spanish entirely and some of the arias and recitatives will be in Spanish while others are in English,” she said. “We both separately sat with the score and thought through which sections would sound interesting in a different language other than English. We actually picked pretty much all the same movements to do in Spanish.”

The Society’s singers will be joined in the creative artistic endeavor by four featured soloists – soprano Christina Bristow, tenor JJ Lopez, mezzo Christina Pezzarossi and bass Colin Ramsey (the latter two have starred with Opera Santa Barbara) – as well as a 21-piece orchestra. 

The program for the concert will feature full translations of Montenegro’s Spanish libretto alongside the traditional English text. Visit www.sbchoral.org.