Handel's Messiah | St Peter's Singers of Leeds

Hallelujah for Handel! Leeds celebrates the 275th anniversary of Handel’s oratorio Messiah on the evening of Good Friday, the most solemn day of the year.

Since the choir’s formation forty years ago in the spring of 1977, St Peter’s Singers have presented many performances of Messiah in the editions by Watkins Shaw, John Tobin and Clifford Bartlett.

This year, the Singers will be using the edition by Bradford born scholar H Watkins Shaw (1911-1996) issued in 1958 and pioneered here at Leeds Minster and Leeds Town Hall in many performances directed by Dr Donald Hunt, Organist and Director of Music here at Leeds from 1957 until 1975.

Very often Messiah takes place at Christmas. This year, the work’s very special anniversary is being seized by singing it in the last days immediately preceding Easter. Despite the piece’s association with Christmas over many generations, much the greater part of the work is concerned with the passion, death and resurrection of Christ and the nativity accounts for a comparatively short section in Part One. Our performance will be complete and in its entirety. We welcome most warmly rising young singer Randal McCusker and Leeds Minster Director of Music, Paul Dewhurst, joining us for this event.