Madras Musical Association’s musical ode for the holy season

The Lenten season has begun and it’s a good time to focus on what’s important in our lives. Adding fervour to this holy season is The Madras Musical Association (MMA) Choir and Orchestra with an Easter offering. They will present one of the greatest and most loved oratorios of all time, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. The choir will present a selection of pieces including choruses and solos in a two-hour presentation.

“I can say reasons for picking up musical compositions of other music composers. But there is no explanation for selecting Handel’s Messiah. By default, anybody would love to present the German composer’s work.  Messiah has a variety of solos which will be performed by soloists from the choir, who will step up and sing the solos as well as sing along with the choir. This is a body of work that brings joy and lifts the spirit of people and some of
the choruses are personal favourites of many,” shares Augustine Paul, who will be conducting the concert.  

Over the years, the MMA has performed selections from Messiah multiple times.  For this concert, a
total of 36 pieces will be sung by the choir sharing the
story of Christ’s life in three sections — from his birth, life, death, resurrection and the second coming. The 100-member MMA choir will be joined by the 25-piece MMA orchestra in this presentation. “Every time you work on this piece new intricacies surface and bring new meaning and dimension to each chorus and aria. Everybody loves the pace. Out of the 100-members, at least 30 wouldn’t have sung the entire work before in their lives. So, this is a great opportunity for many singers as well,” he adds.

The MMA that is currently in its 126th year is committed to nurturing musicians of all ages to ensure that the tradition of classical western music is kept alive.

The orchestra of Messiah is led by Earl Joseph, who has been part of the orchestra for two years. “Being the concertmaster for the MMA orchestra has its own challenges, but I feel satisfied with the amount of hard work we have invested in this concert. The conductor, Augustine Paul and I have a very good understanding and I have worked with him in a few other projects as well,” says Earl.