Birmingham Bach Choir Present Good Friday Performance of Handel's MESSIAH at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

Birmingham Bach Choir is one of the UK's leading large chamber choirs and together with their orchestra and soloists, Paul Spicer conducts a full Good Friday performance of Handel's beautiful masterpiece MESSIAH at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre on Friday 14 April.

Birmingham Bach Choir is one of the City's oldest and most distinguished musical groups. It predates both the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and the City of Birmingham Choir. The exist to give inspiring live performances to a professional standard that engage with audiences, with a distinctive mix of new and established repertoire.

MESSIAH is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.

Paul Spicer began his musical training as a chorister at New College, Oxford. He studied with HerBert Howells and Richard Popplewell (organ) at the Royal College of Music in London, winning the top organ award (the Walford Davies Prize) in his final year. Paul is best known as a choral conductor, partly through the many CDs he made with the Finzi Singers for Chandos records. He conducted Bach Choirs in Chester and Leicester before moving to conduct the Bach Choir in Birmingham in 1992.

Tickets for MESSIAH are now on sale in person at the Box Office, by calling 01902 42 92 12 or online at grandtheatre.co.uk.

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