Greenville Choral Union and Orchestra to Perform Handel’s Messiah and the “Gloria” from Bach’s B Minor Mass in 77th Anniversary Concert on Sunday, December 2

GREENVILLE, ILL. – The Greenville Choral Union and Orchestra will celebrate their 77th performance of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah along with the “Gloria” from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor on Sunday, December 2 at 4:00 p.m. in the Whitlock Music Center on the Greenville College campus (Greenville, IL).

Performers
The 110-voice Choral Union and the 33-piece Orchestra includes members of south central Illinois communities in addition to students, staff, and faculty members from Greenville College.  Guest professional vocal soloists will include:  sopranos Kristen Frost (St. Louis, MO) and Kay Paulsen (Greenville, IL); mezzo-soprano Denise Gamez (Wheaton, IL); tenor Nathan Munson (Champaign, IL); and bass Jacob Yang (Minneapolis, MN).

Eight professional instrumentalists from the St. Louis area will join the Greenville Chamber Orchestra, directed by Professor Joe Noble of Greenville College.  Mr. Timothy Spelbring, a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY) and native of Hillsboro (IL), is the accompanist for the Choral Union. Greenville resident Carlo van Ulft, a professional carillonist (Centralia, IL) and organist at St. Lawrence Catholic Church (Greenville), will serve as organist.  Dr. Jeff Wilson, Director of Choral Activities at Greenville College and Music Director of the Greenville Choral Union, will conduct the concert.

Program Overview
The concert celebrates the music of the popular Baroque composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759).  The program will include selections from Handel’s most famous sacred work entitled, MESSIAH: AN ORATORIO.  Originally performed to benefit a charity in Dublin, Ireland in April, 1741, this year marks the 77th performance of the work in Greenville.  A portion of Johann Sebastian Bach’s towering masterpiece known as the Mass in B Minor will also be presented by the Greenville Choral Union and Orchestra this year.  The virtuosic “Gloria” movement from the Mass expresses the joy and wonder of the Christmas season in unforgettable fashion.

Seating for the concert will begin at 3:30 p.m.  An offering will be taken to help defray the costs of the concert.

For those who are not able to attend the performance, the concert will be broadcast live on 89.5 FM, WGRN. 

For more information about the Greenville Choral Union and Greenville Chamber Orchestra, please contact the Greenville College Department of Music at (618) 664-6560.

Greenville College is a four-year accredited Christian liberal arts school with more than 1,500 traditional undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree completion students.  Founded in 1892 and affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, the college is located in Greenville, Ill., 45 miles east of St. Louis.