A "wonderful" Messiah at the Festival Hall

Large ecclesiastical buildings, with their hard surfaces and long high naves, are challenging for complex music like Bach’s.

The Sixteen’s work is spoilt by a shortage of violins and some uneven solo contributions. Such imperfections only serve to highlight the excellence of the very best. 

The latest instalment of Kings Place's “Sound Unwrapped” series delivers wonderful musicianship in both jazz and early music, but not the promised “continuous fusion of styles”.

La fama de Handel, vinculada habitualmente con el Mesías, su hito más sobresaliente, no debe conducir a un olvido del resto de oratorios que nutren su catálogo, en el que, según pudimos atestiguar anoche, Israel en Egipto también merece un lugar privilegiado.

Under the baton of Harry Christophers and direction of Penny Woolcock, Streetwise Opera, The Sixteen, Sixteen Orchestra, backed by a number of Manchester-based organisations came together to bring a well-crafted Easter dramatisation of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s seminal oratorios. 

Engaging, passionate and life-afirming: Harry Christophers' group The Sixteen give a memorable rendition of Monteverdi's Vespers 1610