Ulster Touring Opera & Merry Opera Company Team Up for ‘Messiah’

By David Salazar

Northern Ireland’s Ulster Touring Opera and Merry Opera Company are teaming up to present Händel’s “Messiah.”

The work will be directed in a reimagining by John Ramster and features 12 strangers seeking spiritual comfort. Among the soloists are Anna Gregg, Ellen Mawhinney, Valerie Wong, Rebecca Milford, Tilly Green, Samantha Lewis, Ralph Thomas Wiliams, Cameron Gergett, Glenn Tweedie, David Walsh, Ashley Mercer, Matthew Quirk, George Salmon, and Harry Swanson.

Six weeks before rehearsals began, I sent each cast member a short biography/backstory of the character they would play in the piece, a thumbnail sketch of the narrative of their life, what has brought them to a spiritual place, both figuratively and literally, where they need help and comfort. Through Händel’s ‘Messiah,’ they find the solutions or at least the strength to cope with their worries; a crucial part of this is that they are not alone. The world in which they live, the sea in which they swim, the way they get to know each other will be the music and words of ‘Messiah,'” said Ramster per an official release. “There is no need for these personal narratives to impede the central story of Birth, Death and Resurrection. That is the only story I want to tell this evening. The personal character narratives, which will not be explicitly told, provide the singers with a need to discover the piece and find motivations to sing from particular viewpoints that will provide rich and unexpected vocal colors. As the characters progress through the piece, the audience will see them transform and blossom.”

The tour opens on Nov. 8, 2024, in Belfast before heading to Whitehead, Derry / Londonderry, Coleraine, Armagh, Lisburn, Stormont, and a final stop in Portaferry on Dec. 7, 2024.

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