LOS ANGELES, Calif.  When asked for advice on how to prepare for a performance of Handel’s beloved oratorio Messiah – which the Angeles Chorale will present on Saturday, December 10 at 7:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Pasadena – Resident Guest Conductor Donald Neuen replied, “To study it till you need Excedrin.”

If Neuen, who over the course of his career has conducted Handel’s masterpiece over 40 times and is renowned for his “historically authentic” presentations of Messiah worldwide, is exaggerating, it isn’t by much.

“One of the problems in Messiah is that people think they know it because it’s done so often. They’ve been hearing it since they were a kid. So conductors think they don’t have to study it with an expert or a scholar,” explains Neuen, who studied the work while on the faculty at the Eastman School of Music with two men whom he describes as knowing “more about the music of Handel than anyone since it was written” – Alfred Mann and Jens Peter Larsen.

“Therefore, they make the same mistakes the conductors they studied under made, and the mistakes just keep rejuvenating themselves,” Neuen continues. “But I learned note by note, for thousands of notes, song by song for 53 songs, exactly how they should go regarding every interpretive thing you could do – how passionate, how tranquil, how loud, how soft, how fast, how slow. Messiah can’t be mushy and gushy. It’s got to be wonderful, spirited, alive, crisp, with quick tempos and dance-like.”

This may surprise many – especially those who have heard Messiah performances as they’ve traditionally been performed since the 1920s – but, since his tenure at Eastman, Neuen has viewed baroque music as “innately jazzy.”

“Jazz didn’t get invented in New Orleans,” says Neuen with a smile. “Bach and Handel invented it in the late 1600s and early 1700s. They came in and said, Hey, let’s cook here. Let’s have more rhythm. Let’s have it exciting and tranquil and serene and powerful and delicate. You can scat sing to Bach and Handel just like you can to Duke Ellington and Count Basie. As Jens Peter Larsen used to say, fine Handel is just like fine jazz. So if you like fine jazz, come hear a jazz concert called Messiah.”

But even those who don’t necessarily thrill to the rhythms of jazz will leave the Angeles Chorale’s performance of Messiah exhilarated, says Chorale member and Chairman of the Board, Eileen Doctorow.  “There is a spirit and energy to Don’s interpretation that is electrifying,” Doctorow explains. “It will be an uplifting performance like no other you are likely to hear.”

“Messiah is so beautiful,” adds Neuen. “It’s genius who created all this. And I don’t know of anybody who came to Messiah and said, Well, I didn’t like that. Yet it’s always a challenge to serve the piece. To get the forces – the orchestra, soloists, and choir – to bring the presentation up to the point where it lights a fire under the audience. To where it’s a perfect performance, with every note executed perfectly.”

Neuen concludes, “When you hear great singing, you not only hear the art but you hear the words. That can go right to your soul.”

Soloists joining the Angeles Chorale on December 10 are Anush Avetisyan, soprano; Cynthia Jansen, alto; Todd Strange, tenor; and Michael Dean, baritone. In addition, Mona Lands, harpsichordist, and members of the Da Capo Players Chamber Orchestra will provide accompaniment.

Tickets for Messiah are available for $25, general seating, and for $17 for students with a valid ID.  Season tickets for three concerts – Messiah, The American Experience on March 23, and Stories of Our Lives  on June 9– are available as well for $65.  For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.angeleschorale.org or call 818.591.1735.

The First United Methodist Church is located at 500 East Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, 91101.

ABOUT THE ANGELES CHORALE

The 100-voice Angeles Chorale is a volunteer organization of auditioned, professional-level choral singers rehearsing and performing in the Los Angeles area. Its mission is to present choral concerts of the highest caliber, expand the musical abilities of its singers, and broaden appreciation for fine choral music in the Los Angeles community.

In 1996 Donald Neuen became Artistic Director of the Chorale. Under his direction the Angeles Chorale became best known for its productions of the classical masterworks for chorus and orchestra. Currently Neuen serves as the Resident Guest Conductor for the Angeles Chorale and conducted the Chorale in Handel’s Messiah this month in Pasadena.

Dr. John Sutton is the current Artistic Director. He will conduct the other two concerts of this, the Chorale’s 37th season. In March the program will feature the Gospel Mass of Robert Ray and will also include spirituals and jazz. The June concert is titled Stories of our Lives, and will include songs about our shared human experience from childhood to old age.

The Chorale also records music for the “movie trailer industry.” Their voices are frequently heard in the trailers for major movies, such as Spiderman, The Deathly Hallows, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The Chorale has performed with many of the local orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Glendale Symphony, Long Beach Symphony and Pasadena Symphony. The Chorale will participate in the Mahler Project as part of the chorus for the Symphony of a Thousand under Gustavo Dudamel in February.

For further information visit the Angeles Chorale website at www.angeleschorale.org.

ABOUT DONALD NEUEN, resident guest conductor

Donald Neuen, Resident Guest Conductor, has defined the artistic vision and performance standards of the Angeles Chorale since 1995. Neuen's leadership and dedication to excellence has positioned him as a true visionary leader in chorale conducting, and he has been referred to as "...the great choral conductor of his generation" by musicologist Julius Herford.

As Distinguished Professor and Director of Choral Activities at UCLA, Don Neuen heads one of the most respected graduate choral conducting programs in the U.S. Prior to UCLA, he served for twelve years in the same position at the Eastman School of Music.

Hailed by Don Hinshaw as "the driving force of choral music education in America," Neuen also conducted the Crystal Cathedral Choir at the landmark Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA, and appeared weekly on their internationally-televised "Hour of Power" broadcast.

A student and protégé of Robert Shaw, Neuen went to Atlanta in 1970 at Shaw's request to create the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and to serve as Assistant Conductor and Director of Choral Activities for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Neuen has made it his personal mission to build on the standards of excellence set by Shaw.

Neuen has served on the faculties of the universities of Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ball State, and Georgia State University. In addition, he has conducted orchestras from around the world, and has led conducting clinics in Europe, Asia, Mexico, Canada, and nearly every state in the United States.

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