Messiah New York Performances

Handel’s *Messiah* (1741) is an English-language oratorio that sets biblical passages on prophecy, the Nativity, Passion, and resurrection, shaped into a three-part meditation rather than staged drama. In New York, it has long functioned as a civic ritual of winter concert life, sustained by the city’s choral societies and major halls even without a single definitive local “premiere” story. At David Geffen Hall, Jane Glover leads a period-leaning account with the Music of the Baroque Chorus directed by Andrew Megill and soloists Amanda Forsythe, John Holiday, and Nicholas Phan. The clearest strength of this work is its architecture: public chorus, private reflection, and communal memory held in balance.