Kansas City Symphony: Jane Glover - Handel's Messiah

Kansas City Symphony: Jane Glover - Handel's Messiah at Helzberg Hall - Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Few seasonal traditions have a musical contrast as vivid as Messiah: a solo voice can give way to a full chorus. Jane Glover conducts the Kansas City Symphony and Symphony Chorus, directed by Betsy Burleigh, at Helzberg Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, this December. Handel's Baroque oratorio brings those voices together with the orchestra for an afternoon of intimate and grand moments.

Four soloists—soprano Andriana Chuchman, mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, tenor Eric Ferring and bass Brandon Cedel—bring different vocal colors to the oratorio. The Hallelujah chorus offers a familiar moment of grandeur, while the solo voices give you a different way into the work. Those shifts are part of the pleasure of following Messiah as a whole, not just recognizing its most famous chorus.

The Symphony Chorus brings another dimension to the soloists' lines: where one singer can draw your attention to a phrase, the voices together can give Handel's music a wider sweep. Under Glover's baton, with Burleigh directing the chorus, the Symphony and singers offer a chance to hear how an oratorio builds its appeal through changing vocal forces. It's a December tradition with plenty to discover between familiar passages.

Spending an afternoon inside Kauffman Center lets you hear the musical reasons Messiah endures. Tickets for the Kansas City Symphony's December 6 performance put you in the room where those contrasts happen.