Acclaimed Baroque specialist to conduct Handel’s Messiah

Acclaimed Baroque specialist to conduct Handel’s Messiah

The guest conductor for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s (NZSO) December performance of Handel’s Messiah has conducted this beloved choral masterpiece nearly 150 times on three continents, but this will be his first time conducting the work in Australasia.

“Usually when I conduct Messiah it's cold and snowy outside but this one will be my first in summertime,” says Nicholas McGegan, who has been hailed as “one of the finest baroque conductors of his generation” (London Independent).

This one-off Wellington concert features four of Australasia’s brightest opera stars: New Zealand-born soprano Anna Leese, award-winning mezzo-soprano Sally Anne Russell, tenor SteveDavislim and bass James Clayton. They will be joined by the NZSO Messiah Chorale – a chamber choir of around 60 singers comprising some of Wellington’s finest choral voices brought together especially for this performance.

McGegan’s interpretation of Messiah is sure to draw new insights into this work, which has become a firm Christmas-time favourite in the capital. “Messiah is a work that I never tire of. It is a musical masterpiece and I am always finding new things in it,” says McGegan.

Handel himself directed Messiah many times and at each performance he rewrote parts of it, says McGegan. “There is no definitive version of this work,” he says. “My sole aim in the concert hall is to try to perform any work of music in the most exciting and moving way that I can for the audience.”

As he embarks on his fourth decade on the podium, Nicholas McGegan is increasingly recognised for his probing and revelatory explorations of music of all periods. He has been Music Director of San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for 30 years, and was Artistic Director of the International Handel Festival Göttingen for 20 years (1991–2011). Beginning in the 2013-14 season he took on the title of Principal Guest Conductor of the Pasadena Symphony, and last year he became Artist in Association with Australia’s Adelaide Symphony.

Messiah is supported by Peter and Carolyn Diessl.

ENDS

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