BGSU singers, Toledo symphony join forces to perform ‘Messiah’

The upcoming performance of "Messiah" is both a celebration of the season and a celebration of
the collaboration between the Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts and the Toledo
Symphony Orchestra.
The University Choral Society and the orchestra will present G.F. Handel’s oratorio Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. in
Kobacker Hall in the Moore Musical Arts Center. Tickets are $36, $28 and $20 for adults and $29, $22 and
$15 for students. For tickets, contact the box office at (419) 372-8171 or 1-800-589-2224. Soloists will
be soprano Carol Dusdieker, mezzo-soprano Fenlon Lamb, tenor Christopher Scholl and bass-baritone Sean
Cooper.
The performance will include all of the Part 1 of the oratorio as well as half of the second and third
parts, including such favorite movements as "My Redeemer Liveth," "The Trumpets Shall
Sound" and "The Hallelujah Chorus."
Mark Munson, of the BGSU music faculty, will conduct. Though he sang it annually for six years while a
member of the Mendelssohn Chorus in Pittsburgh, it’s been 20 years since he’s been involved in a
performance of the masterpiece.
The last time it was done at BGSU was 20 years ago, then first year he arrived, he said. Then he helped
prepare the chorus, now he’ll take up the baton, both for the Bowling Green concert and for one of the
two performances at the Peristyle in Toledo. The BGSU singers will be joined in Toledo by the Toledo
Choral Society, bringing the complement of voices to about 200 for concerts Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 6
at 2 p.m. Sam Szor will conduct the Dec. 6 concert.
Coming to "Messiah" after 20 years, Munson said, he sees it fresh, and as his first time being
responsible for the orchestra as well as the voices, he’s discovering how the orchestral parts and the
vocal parts intertwine.
While the piece has been performed annually in Toledo, this year the scale will be larger, explained Bob
Bell, the symphony’s president and CEO. Using a larger chorus and the full orchestra will make it
"more faithful to the original," he said. "We’re looking at a significantly larger
group."
The collaboration works well for both parties, Bell said.
It provides the orchestra, which does not maintain its own chorus, with the voices – "performers of
a high standard" – it needs to present the masterpieces of the orchestral literature.
Singers from BGSU, sometimes with choruses from other colleges, have participated in a number of
performances with the orchestra, including Carl Orff’s "Carmina Burana," Handel’s
"Elijah" and Mahler’s "Symphony No. 3."
"It’s a great way to partner with a very important educational institution," Bell said.
"It’s been very satisfying artistically."
For student performers it gives them a chance "to do something of substance and quality and work in
a professional environment," he said.
And it further the mission of the Choral Society which was founded to give singers, both students and
community members, a chance to perform the great masterpieces of the choral literature with orchestra.

While the society does perform with the Bowling Green Philharmonia, that ensemble’s schedule is very
busy, serving as it does as the orchestra for operas, the New Music Festival and annual concert
featuring winners of the concerto competition as well as its own schedule, Munson said.
The collaboration with the Toledo Symphony offers an outlet for the choir’s talent, and this spring the
choral society will present Mozart’s "Mass in C minor" with the Lima Symphony.
Of those choral masterpieces, few are as popular as the "Messiah."
It’s association with Christmas helps, Munson said. And its narrative structure takes the listener from
the birth of Christ to considering his passion and resurrection. "It’s very dramatic."
Maybe the main reason for its enduring appeal is evident as much at rehearsals as a performances.
"People come away from rehearsals humming the tunes we just rehearsed," he said. "Not
every piece is like that."