Trinity Hosts MESSIAH Facebook Premiere December 13

It has been 250 years since Trinity Church Wall Street first hosted one of the earliest American performances of Handel's Messiah, and today its interpretation of the oratorio has been hailed as "the best Messiah in New York" (New York Times).

This season, when the pandemic has made most live performance impossible, Trinity keeps the tradition alive with a special interactive Facebook Premiere at 3pm on December 13, when viewers can tune in to see a complete concert performance of the work, captured live last year in high definition, by the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Baroque Orchestra and Music Director Julian Wachner. The oratorio's movements will be interspersed with personal video messages from ten key Trinity artists, and there will be a live comment thread for audience members to chat with Wachner, the musicians and other viewers around the world.

Representing the culmination of Trinity's "Messiah Week" - five days of related webcasts in the daily "Comfort at One" series - the Facebook Premiere invites music-lovers everywhere to come together at the end of this difficult year to take solace in Handel's enduring and uplifting work.

Trinity was instrumental in pioneering the Messiah in the Americas, hosting one of the first American performances in 1770. As Baroque specialists whose vocal soloists are drawn from the choir and whose instrumentalists are expert performers on historical instruments, Wachner, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra now rank among the foremost exponents of the perennial holiday favorite. Their authentic approach "demonstrate[s] why historically informed performance makes a difference," notes the Wall Street Journal. As the New York Times observes: "With the church's choir and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, a period band, Mr. Wachner provides gritty, gutsy, edge-of-the-seat performances."

The upcoming Facebook Premiere will feature personal video messages from Trinity's Associate Organist Janet Yieh; The Choir of Trinity Wall Street's sopranos Sonya Headlam, Michele Kennedy and Molly Netter, alto Pamela Terry, baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert and basses Paul An, Enrico Lagasca and Jonathan Woody; and Wachner himself. Offering viewers a rare glimpse of their lives at home, the artists will talk about the ways they've continued making music during the pandemic, sharing messages of hope and connection with Trinity's global community.

By way of an upbeat to the main event, "Messiah Week" provides opportunities to revisit highlights of some of Trinity's other past performances of the oratorio. Viewers can stream a series of solos from baritone Thomas McCargar from 2018 (Dec 8), bass Jonathan Woody's account of "He was despised" from the same year (Dec 10), and a number of the work's most rousing choral movements: "For unto us a child is born" from 2017 (Dec 7), "And he shall purify" from 2018 (Dec 9), and "Surely," "And with His stripes" and "All we like sheep" from the 2016 performance.

Other upcoming highlights in the free "Comfort at One" streaming series include a program of sacred music by female composers (Dec 15); a virtual performance of Ola Gjeilo's Spotless Rose by Trinity's semi-professional choir, Downtown Voices (Dec 16); a week of Christmas celebrations, featuring a virtual performance of Britten's A Ceremony of Carols by the Trinity Youth Chorus (Dec 21) and the conclusion of Bach's Christmas Oratorio on Christmas Eve (Dec 24); and a two-week focus on favorite concerts from past Twelfth Night Festivals featuring groups such as The Bishop's Band (Dec 31), New York Polyphony (Jan 1) and Quicksilver (Jan 6 & 7). Showcasing Trinity's expertise in both new and early music, these Comfort at One programs also include 2017's world premiere performance of Zachary Wadsworth's Spire and Shadow (Jan 5) and a fire-themed program of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Michael Daugherty, given in collaboration with New York Baroque Incorporated in 2016 (Jan 8). Further details of these and other upcoming "Comfort at One" streams are provided below.

About Music at Trinity Church Wall Street

Trinity Church Wall Street's groundbreaking music program - "the top of musical life in New York" (New York Times) - has changed the landscape of performing arts in New York City, re-envisioning the impact arts organizations can have, with its peerless ensembles, uniquely broad range of expertise from early to new music performance, long tradition of championing underrepresented composers, and extensive and growing discography. Conductor and composer Julian Wachner serves as the director of music at Trinity and as the principal conductor of The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, NOVUS NY and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra.

Trinity Church Wall Street presents Messiah Facebook Premiere

Sun, Dec 13 at 3pm EST
George Frideric Handel: Messiah (complete)
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street
Trinity Baroque Orchestra
Julian Wachner, conductor
Facebook Premiere

Free streaming in "Comfort at One" series

Videos stream at 1pm EDT on Facebook and Twitter, and are archived here.

Fri, Nov 27 at 1pm
Members of The Choir of Trinity Wall Street sang "Faire is the Heaven" from the All Saints Day service on November 1, 2020, revisited for this Thanksgiving edition of Comfort at One.

Mon, Nov 30 at 1pm
In a favorite Bach + One concert from 2018, Julian Wachner conducted soloists Molly Netter, Clifton Massey, Melissa Attebury, Scott Mello, Megan Chartrand, Brain Giebler and Jonathan Woody with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Baroque Orchestra and Avi Stein in Bach's Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, and Johann Rudolph's Ahle Magnificat à 8 for choir, cornetto and sackbuts.

Tues, Dec 1 at 1pm
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street explored its heritage with Anglican favorites, including Gardiner's Evening Hymn, in the first installment of Trinity's 2018 Evening Concert Series.

Wed, Dec 2 at 1pm
The Trinity Youth Chorus gives a special virtual performance of "Candlelight Carol" and Britten's A Ceremony of Carols.

Thurs, Dec 3 at 1pm
In 2018, Trinity's Music Scholar Forrest Eimold gave a Pipes at One recital featuring trumpeter Eric Berlin.

Fri, Dec 4 at 1pm
Two core NOVUS NY musicians - concertmaster Katie Hyun and pianist Conor Hanick - recorded John Adams's Road Movies at Yamaha Studios for this season's "Passing Through" series.

Mon, Dec 7 at 1pm ("Messiah Week")
"Messiah Week" opens with "For unto us a child is born" from Trinity's 2017 performance.

Tues, Dec 8 at 1pm ("Messiah Week")
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street's Thomas McCargar gave a stunning interpretation of Christ's agony in the lead-up to his death, in a series of solos from Part 2's Passion in Trinity's 2018 performance.

Wed, Dec 9 at 1pm ("Messiah Week")
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street performed "And he shall purify" in a highly acclaimed 2018 performance.

Thurs, Dec 10 ("Messiah Week")
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street's Jonathan Woody sang "He was despised," one of the oratorio's most dramatic movements, in 2018.

Fri, Dec 11 at 1pm ("Messiah Week")
"Messiah Week" concludes with "Surely," "And with His stripes," and "All we like sheep": a series of choral movements by The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and Trinity Baroque Orchestra in 2016.

Mon, Dec 14 at 1pm
Wachner led the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street in a 2017 performance of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 (Parts 2 and 4).

Tues, Dec 15 at 1pm
Trinity continues to amplify the voices of female composers by programming works written by women throughout the Advent season. Members of The Choir of Trinity Wall Street perform one of these anthems from a Sunday service.

Wed, Dec 16 at 1pm
Trinity's semi-professional choir, Downtown Voices, gives a virtual performance of Spotless Rose by Ola Gjeilo, as edited by Farrah Dupoux, under Stephen Sands's direction.

Thurs, Dec 17 at 1pm
Last year, Associate Organist Janet Yieh gave a holiday Pipes at One recital, combining Advent hymns and tunes with works by Mendlessohn, Bach, Jeanne Demessieux and Marcel Dupré.

Fri, Dec 18 at 1pm
In 2017, Downtown Voices, Trinity Youth Chorus, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and NOVUS NY gave a Christmas Concert and Community Carol Sing featuring Wachner's arrangements of favorite Christmas tunes from his album The Snow Lay on the Ground.

Mon, Dec 21 at 1pm (Christmas Week)
Trinity's Christmas week celebrations begin with the Trinity Youth Chorus's virtual performance of Britten's A Ceremony of Carols.

Tues, Dec 22 at 1pm (Christmas Week)
Downtown Voices, the Trinity Youth Chorus, St. Paul's Chapel Choir and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street all took part in last year's Festival of Lessons and Carols for Advent, which tells the Christmas story through readings and musical illuminations.

Wed, Dec 23 at 1pm (Christmas Week)
In 2018, the audience sang along with Downtown Voices, NOVUS NY and the Trinity Youth Chorus in a program of holiday favorites and carols arranged by Julian Wachner for his album The Snow Lay on the Ground.

Thurs, Dec 24 at 1pm (Christmas Week)
Soloists from The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, including Steven Caldicott Wilson, Jonathan Woody, Molly Netter, Scott Mello, Megan Chartrand, Clifton Massey and Andrew Fuchs, took part in Bach's Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 (Parts 5 and 6), in 2017.

Fri, Dec 25 at 1pm (Christmas Week)
Associate Organist Janet Yieh leads the St. Paul's Chapel Choir in a special virtual performance for Christmas Day.

Mon, Dec 28 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
For the next two weeks, Trinity revisits highlights from the Twelfth Night Festivals it used to present each year. The celebration opens with Wachner and the Trinity ensembles in excerpts from Bach's Christmas Oratorio (Parts 1 and 3), featuring soloists Steven Caldicott Wilson, Melissa Attebury, Christopher Dylan Herbert, Sarah Brailey, Edmund Milly and Tim Keeler, in 2017.

Tues, Dec 29 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
NOVUS NY, Downtown Voices, Trinity Youth Chorus and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street perform Julian Wachner's Regina Coeli and Britten's St. Nicolas and A Boy was Born, in a concert that also served as the finale of Britten100, Trinity's celebration of the composer's centennial in 2014.

Wed, Dec 30 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
In 2013, Wachner led The Choir of Trinity Wall Street in "Nöel et La Vierge Marie: a Franco-Flemish Christmas Celebration": a program of motets by Binchois, Brumel, Busnois, Dufay, Mouton, Obrecht and Ockeghem, interspersed with movements from Josquin des Pres's Missa de Beata Virgine.

Thurs, Dec 31 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
In 2014, The Bishop's Band presented "Codex II," a concert dedicated to music from the Codex Trujillo del Perú, a late-18th-century manuscript edited by Baltazar Jaime Martínez Compañón, the bishop of Trujillo, Peru.

Fri, Jan 1 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
Also in 2014, the vocal quartet New York Polyphony performed "Wondrous Birth, O Wondrous Child," a survey of Christmas carols by Victoria, Tallis, contemporary European and American composers, and forgotten medieval masters.

Mon, Jan 4 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
Playing on period instruments under Avi Stein's leadership, the Trinity Baroque Orchestra performed a complete cycle of Bach's Orchestral Suites in 2014.

Tues, Jan 5 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
To mark the 250th anniversary of the opening of St. Paul's Chapel, Trinity commissioned Zachary Wadsworth's Spire and Shadow, set to five centuries of poems about New York City. The work was written for Downtown Voices and NOVUS NY, who gave its world premiere performance in 2017.

Wed, Jan 6 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
In 2014, early-music rockstars Quicksilver presented Violini A Due: An Italian Journey, offering an exploration of 17th-century virtuoso violin repertoire from Castello to Corelli.

Thurs, Jan 7 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
Quicksilver returned in 2017 for A Creative Home: Music written and performed by musicians of Trinity. Curated by Christopher Dylan Herbert, the concert comprised music by members of Trinity's extended family.

Fri, Jan 8 at 1pm ("Twelfth Night Comfort")
As Trinity became an epicenter for both early and new music, the 2016 Twelfth Night Festival was aptly subtitled "Time's Arrow." In a themed "Fire" program, played on both modern and period instruments, Trinity collaborated with New York Baroque Incorporated on performances of Bach's cantata "O ewiges Feuer," Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, Haydn's "Fire" Symphony and Michael Daugherty's violin concerto Fire and Blood with former NOVUS NY concertmaster Owen Dalby as soloist.