The annual Bristol Choral Society Messiah came round again. The choir started singing the piece from memory while Adrian Partington was musical director, building it up with a few more choruses each year. With a change of conductor and an influx of new singers into the choir, it was decided to revert to using copies this year, but as little as possible. We also did slightly different choruses, including dropping Lift up your heads (the second part of which is a piggy to memorise if you want to get it exactly right) and Let us break their bonds (a particularly nerve-racking one to sing from memory).
We had a different orchestra this time too – the Corelli Orchestra – but were still at baroque pitch. The earlier ‘Mini Messiah’ highlights for children attracted an audience of about 1500 and seem to be a firm part of Christmas for many Bristolians.