Handel's Messiah: Words from Our Soloists

With three weeks to go until our performance of Handel's Messiah, we spoke to our four soloists to get their insights into why this extraordinary work continues to connect with singers and audiences alike.

Amy Moore, soprano

Lyric soprano Amy Moore moved to Australia from the UK in 2015. An accomplished soloist and ensemble singer, Amy enjoys a broad repertoire, with a particular focus on Baroque and contemporary music. She performs with Bach Akademie Australia, Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Brandenburg Choir, Cantillation, and is a member of the Choir of St James King Street. She is a Principal Artist with The Song Company.

What is your personal favourite aria and chorus, and why?

There are too many favourite choruses to name one! I think the final ‘Amen’ chorus is very beautiful and it always leaves me with goosebumps. It’s quite a reflective way to finish the oratorio for both audience and musicians alike. 

I may be a little biased, but one of my favourite arias would have to be the alto/soprano 'He shall feed his flock', as it really showcases the warmth and subtleties of the alto and soprano voices.

Stephanie Dillon, alto

Stephanie Dillon is a Sydney-based mezzo soprano. Born and raised in Moree in country NSW, she studied Classical Voice at the University of New South Wales, graduating with a Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Arts. Stephanie is a chorister and soloist with the Choir of St James’ King Street, and also performs as a soloist and ensemble singer with numerous professional ensembles in Sydney, including Pinchgut Opera, The Song Company, Cantillation, Bach Akademie Australia, Collegium Musicum Choir at UNSW, Sydney Antiphony and Luminescence Chamber Singers. In addition to her work as a performer, Stephanie works in arts administration and arts education.

What part of Messiah do you connect most deeply with?

I love the beginning of the second part of Messiah which is often referred to as 'Christ’s Passion'. To me it is the 'heart' of the whole work. Its arias, choruses and recitatives reflect not only the anguish and suffering of Christ but also the hope and inspiration his sacrifice made possible.

Andrew Goodwin, Tenor

Tenor Andrew Goodwin has appeared with opera companies in Europe, the UK, Asia and Australia, including the Bolshoi Opera, Gran Theatre Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, La Scala Milan, Opera Australia, Pinchgut Opera and Sydney Chamber Opera. On the concert platform he has performed with all of the major Australian symphony orchestras, and abroad with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. His numerous performances include recitals with pianist Daniel de Borah at Wigmore Hall and at the Oxford Lieder, Port Fairy, Huntington, Coriole and Canberra International Music Festivals.

How do you approach the Messiah as a soloist, and why is this particular performance meaningful to you?

For those who have studied singing, I think we can all excitedly point to a time when we eventually ‘graduated’ from singing technical exercises and art song (as one should) to finally being allowed to tackle our first big Messiah aria. Further down that path, there’s a lot of expectation that comes with doing your first Messiah as a soloist, and usually before then one might have done any number of performances of the work singing in the choir – and I certainly sang many in that capacity.

I think anyone who hears or sings Handel’s Messiah, regularly or otherwise, builds up some kind of personal relationship with it. For me, I think of the work as a kind of ‘herald’ or ‘landmark’ that comes ahead of Easter or Christmas, and far from being overly ‘sacred’ I find it on the whole quite grounded in humanity. It is of course at its heart an Easter story – which happens to more or less begin with the birth of a baby at Christmas – but I find that Handel’s music dwells on both the individual and collective response to that very human story of life and death, rather than just ‘evangelising’ a particular gospel story. In this way, I think Handel’s vast experience in the theatre and all the tricks-of-the-trade are really evident in this work, and regardless of your faith or lack thereof, both audience and performer can connect to this shared humanity and Handel’s masterful score. 

I find this human connection to be particularly true of more intimate Messiah performances  and those featuring something closer to Handel’s restrained original orchestration and choral forces. This is yet another reason to look forward to joining this performance with The Muffat Collective and Sydney Chamber Choir in the near-perfect acoustic of City Recital Hall.

Andrew O'Connor, bass

As a performer and educator, Andrew O’Connor is versed in a wide variety of styles and genres. Born in Perth, he studied at the University of Western Australia before establishing a successful career in both teaching and performance. From 2015 – 2019 he was a core member of The Song Company. Andrew is a Lay Clerk with St Mary’s Cathedral Choir and in 2019 was an Associate Artist with Pacific Opera. He sings regularly with virtually all of Sydney’s leading early and contemporary music organisations. He balances these commitments with a busy freelance career, with performances with Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, the Choir of St James, Collegium Musicum, Opera Australia, Bach Akademie Australia and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra scheduled for 2020.

The Messiah is an immensely popular work.  What significance does it hold for you?

I think almost every classical musician will have an experience of the Messiah at some point. It's hard to find a musician, amateur or professional, who has not performed this work, at least in part. I know tenors for whom no Easter or Christmas season is complete without singing at least five solo Messiah performances! For audience members too, it is a work that is well-known, yet somehow manages to retain an appeal, a freshness, or just something which brings them back to performance after performance.

For me personally this is a work that I have been around for a long time too. I remember learning 'He shall feed his flock/Come unto Him' for a school music exam when I was 16. It was a while before I sang my first solo Messiah in concert, but I've done several now and I can honestly say it's never boring. Sitting at the front of stage affords the unique privilege of seeing the faces of the audience members. There are often moments in the middle of an aria where I might notice someone being moved to tears by the beauty of the music. I don't think this is unique to people who profess to be Christian, by the way. I think that the music makes believers of us all, even if only for the duration of the performance. There are very few pieces of music that have the same effect: the Bach Passions spring to mind of course, but I struggle to think of anything else with such appeal. For me it is a work that makes us consider our spirituality and our humanity, and through its powerful storytelling moves us deeply.

Sydney Chamber Choir presents Handel’s Messiah at City Recital Hall on March 14th, 2020.