Performance

Messiah

6 upcoming performances in New York

George Frideric Handel’s *Messiah* (1741) is an English-language oratorio that traces a Christian narrative of prophecy, birth, passion, and redemption through choruses, arias, and recitatives drawn from scripture. In New York, it became a civic ritual early on; the Handel and Haydn Society introduced it to the city in 1770, and annual performances helped anchor Manhattan’s choral culture. At David Geffen Hall, Jane Glover leads soloists Amanda Forsythe, Nicholas Phan, John Holiday, and Kevin Deas with the Music of the Baroque Chorus directed by Andrew Megill. Its most telling feature is how communal the drama feels, even when the text stays at a reflective distance.