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12/16/2022 12:41 PMStaff Report
The 33rd magnificent, live performance of Branford Messiah returns to Branford First Congregational Church on Friday, Dec. 23, after a two-year break due to the pandemic.
Last performed in Branford in 2019, this favorite holiday tradition for many will take place Friday, Dec. 23, 7:30 p.m. in the beautiful sanctuary at First Congregational Church, located at 1009 Main St. on the Branford green.
The performance returns under the baton of conductor Roy Wiseman. Wiseman will lead a professional chamber orchestra and professional soloists, joined with community singers, to share the joy of the season through the classic music of composer George Frederic Handel’s “Messiah” (Part 1) in this festive space.
Soloists for this performance will be Lielle Berman, soprano, Rebecca Ringle Kamarei, mezzo soprano, Stephen Mitchell, tenor, and Kenneth Overton, baritone.
This wonderful musical experience, launched in 1986 by Ettie Minor Luckey, is for the whole family. Branford Messiah continues to gift this highlight of the holiday season to the community free of charge, as Luckey intended.
Roy Wiseman is a conductor who has premiered dozens of works by American composers; he has conducted at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Oregon Festival of American Music, the Goodspeed Opera House, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Palace Theater (New Haven).
Educated at Bennington College, the Yale School of Music, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Dr. Wiseman is especially pleased to be once again be conducting Handel's Messiah, the subject of his doctoral thesis, in Branford.