Tis the season

If you are a regular here at the Patch you know that every year I wax poetic on one of my favorite things in the world. My annual performance of Handel's Messiah. It's the 71st performance in Cedar City. Not one year have they skipped doing it. Christmas is so commercial and when the economy is troublesome (even if it isn't) there's so much materialistic stress.  My favorite part of the season is singing in the Messiah. Our orchestra along with the Messiah chorale perform it as Handel intended it to be; free of charge. I never have the words to express how humbling it is to sing the words from the Bible that chronicle the events leading up to the birth, the ministry, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ. Powerful words. Yet my ultimate amazement lies in the pure genius of Handel. He brings life to the words, he paints a picture. He uses every nuance of every instrument in the orchestra, every section of the chorale, and every soloist. I do this every year because it truly is the best part of the year for me, hands down.

In the past I've talked about Adrianne Tawa, our choir instructor. She's amazing and for the experience of learning from her, alone, makes it all the more worthwhile. Then we are handed over to Xun Sun (maestro AND doctor) who truly is astounding but the real show is watching him conduct us. Never have I seen such joy in a person. How can it NOT be the best experience ever??

Here's some of the music from last year's performance:


Isn't he amazing? How can you NOT feel pure joy performing with this man???