Messiah Sing-a-long by Michael Christie

On Sunday night the Phoenix Symphony presented the first annual Messiah Sing-a-long. We had an orchestra comprised of volunteer members of the instrumental music community as well as Phoenix Symphony administrative staff. We also had a fantastic turn out of singers and spectators ready to take on the joyful and often treacherous passages written throughout one of the most widely known choral works in history.

There were a few glitches that will need to be ironed out but that is why we have the blog!

Next year we will be addressing the need to have people sing in their respective sections. I think the biggest issue was whether singers would be willing to separate themselves from accompanying family members. I think it was much more difficult for people to enjoy singing without the support of others singing the same part.

We will also look at whether the schedule could be such that our Phoenix Symphony Chorus members could attend to lend a helping hand to the sections. The chorus had an incredibly busy week with AZ Christmas. While a few did attend even they commented that having more to help would have been appreciated.

We will also look into a way to do the solo numbers. This will open another set of questions but enough other organizations do these types of things so we’ll poke around and see how this can be handled.

I had a great time working with everyone that attended and appreciate everyone’s effort to make this a sensational kick-off event. We will certainly be looking for other ways to involve our community in music-making endeavors and hope that this will allow the Phoenix Symphony to have an even richer impact on people’s lives.

Your comments about the event are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for attending!

Michael Christie