Sunday, December 8, 2024 2:00 PM
Hill Auditorium
Handel’s Messiah
$15-20 student tickets available
Handel composed his oratorio Messiah over the course of a single month in 1741, six months before its triumphant premiere at a new concert hall in Dublin. This timeless masterpiece has enraptured audiences for centuries with its sublime beauty and profound spirituality. From the jubilant “Hallelujah” chorus to its stirring arias and evocative chorales, Messiah is brought to life by friends and colleagues from the community through both the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the UMS Choral Union. UMSCU music director Scott Hanoian conducts this annual holiday tradition, which features a cast of stellar soloists all making their first UMS appearances. “A musical rite of the holiday season, the Baroque-era oratorio still awes listeners more than 250 years after the composer’s death.” (Smithsonian)
Valet parking will be available beginning 1 hour before the performance for $30 per car (cash only) on N University Ave in front of Hill Auditorium.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
PRINCIPAL SPONSOR
- Herbert S. and Carol L. Amster Endowment Fund
PATRON SPONSOR
- Carl and Isabelle Brauer Endowment Fund
MEDIA PARTNERS
Contact Info
scottph@umich.edu
About Scott
Scott Hanoian is the Music Director and Conductor of the University Musical Society Choral Union where he conducts and prepares the Grammy Award-winning chorus in performances with the world’s finest orchestras and conductors. Choruses prepared by Mr. Hanoian have sung under the batons of Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Leonard Slatkin, Ivan Fischer, Dennis Russell Davies, and Osmo Vänskä.
Mr. Hanoian is active as a conductor, organist, lecturer, continuo artist, accompanist, choral adjudicator, and guest clinician. He is the Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, where he directs the church’s four choirs and oversees the yearly concert series. Mr. Hanoian has served on the faculty of Wayne State University and Oakland University and was the artistic director and conductor of the Oakland Choral Society from 2013–2015.
As an organist and conductor, Mr. Hanoian has performed concerts throughout the US and has led choirs on trips to Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, France, and Spain. Most recently, Mr. Hanoian led the Christ Church Choirs during weeklong residencies at York Minster, Durham Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Wells Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey.
Before moving to Grosse Pointe, Mr. Hanoian was the Assistant Organist and Assistant Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral where he played the organ for many services including the funerals for Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.
Mr. Hanoian has recorded the complete organ works of Johannes Brahms for the JAV label.
Recognized for her unique artistic curiosity in world-class performances spanning the music of Claudio Monteverdi and Johann Adolph Hasse through to Missy Mazzoli and Sir George Benjamin, American Lauren Snouffer is celebrated as one of the most versatile and respected sopranos on the international stage.
Praised by The New York Times for his “beautiful, well-supported tone and compelling expression,” American countertenor Eric Jurenas has been featured on some of the world’s largest and most reputable stages. His dedication to baroque-era music, newly-created works, and everything in between, has established him as an influential voice.
Eric has received awards from prestigious vocal competitions around the world, including an award from The Sullivan Foundation, 1st place in The Renata Tebaldi International Competition, 2nd place in the Corneille International Competition, 3rd place in the Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera, 1st place in the Handel Aria Competition, The International Competition -‘s-Hertogenbosch, 1st place in the Hal Leonard Online Vocal Competition, Dayton Opera Guild Competition, Kentucky Bach Choir Competition, and the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee Competition. He is a proud recipient of a Novick Career Advancement Grant.
He received his Masters degree from The Juilliard School in New York City and his Bachelors from the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati. He is a student of Dr. Robert White Jr., William McGraw, and George Gibson.
South African tenor Lunga Eric Hallam is a recent graduate of the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and was previously in the Young Artist Programme at Cape Town Opera.
He began his career in Cape Town, where he studied at the University of Cape Town College of Music, and was in the Young Artist programme at Cape Town Opera. There he performed the roles of Tebaldo I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Edgardo Lucia di Lammermoor, Roberto Maria Stuarda, and Ramiro La Cenerentola. He also founded a non-profit organization called Phenomenal Opera Voices in his home of Cape Town.
Washington, D.C. native Christian Simmons, bass-baritone, is a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2023 Laffont Competition. Winner of the Opera Foundation’s 37th Annual Scholarship Competition, Mr. Simmons makes his European debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Mr. Simmons is a winner of the Harlem Opera Theater 2017 Vocal Competition and the National Association of Teaching Singing (NATS) 2016 regional competition. He also has an honorary lifetime membership in the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA).
A graduate of Morgan State University and the Maryland Opera Studio, Mr. Simmons is a proud member of the nation’s first and largest music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America. His inspiration for singing comes from a quote from the late Dr. Nathan M. Carter, “Music is ministry: it has to go beyond the page; it must inspire.”
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