Are you curious about this year’s Portland Baroque Orchestra Messiah performances on December 6, 7 and 8? Wondering how your beloved holiday oratorio will sound in PBO’s new venue, Sanctuary Hall at First Congregational Church, and what to expect from your first Messiah under new PBO Artistic Director Julian Perkins? 

Oregon ArtsWatch is curious, too. Which is why the opportunity to have coffee and a conversation with Maestro Perkins was so appealing. I imagined questions you Messiah fans might have and made a list; even came up with some erudite musical obscurities for effect. I did some research on the well-respected and busy conductor who makes his family home in London. But when we sat down to talk at Café Umbria there was only one question that I really wanted to ask and I hoped it would not be met with a blank stare.

What is your philosophy about Handel’s Messiah? 

Turns out Julian Perkins doesn’t have a blank stare when talking about Messiah. He answered with enthusiasm, “it’s a drama and there is a universality to the work,” and spoke further about the immediacy of the message. Of how a 283-year-old-work still has meaning to the audience of today – to you. “It is a privilege,” said Perkins. 

And then Perkins did state a philosophy of sorts. Not his own, but Handel’s. He said Handel composed his music to be a conduit to Charles Jennens’ libretto. Perkins paused to let those words sink in – perhaps you need a moment as well – then added “the introduction of music into the dramatic text will not make the text invisible.” That’s a mouthful, isn’t it. And an important insight about the performance you will hear. 

Do you know about Charles Jennens? Perkins is a big supporter of the brilliant Messiah librettist and spoke almost reverently about Jennens’ selfless dedication to his friend Handel from whom he took no money for the Messiah libretto. And Perkins was keen to point out that the words “I know that my Redeemer liveth” Jennens’ Biblical text (Job 19:25) set for soprano in Part III, are on Handel’s tomb in Westminster Abbey. Listen here to three scholars–including Roderick Williams, who performed recently in Portland–talking about Jennens:

Perkins’ statement that he thinks the Messiah music and text “are on equal footing” is meant for performers and audience alike; the opening sentence in a PBO guidebook on how to enjoy the performance. Listen to the words, celebrate their meaning illuminated in music and embrace the drama that unfolds in 2-and-three-quarter-ish hours.

Yeah, Messiah is a stretch. It’s a reason some folks shy away from an “every last note” performance. One key to transcending the time hurdle – one under his control, explained Perkins – is giving only a little time between most movements so as to maintain dramatic thrust. It’s surely what Handel and Jennens wanted. And it begins, he explained, with the very first transition between the opening symphony and the first solo entrance. “I hope that’s not when the latecomers are seated,” he said with a sigh. Take a look at what he means.

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Messiah begins with an orchestral symphony in French overture style, with those taut dotted rhythms, in e minor which transitions to close the “scene” with troubled energy, putting the listener on edge. Immediately the orchestra raises that minor third to major and the tenor sings three syllables “Comfort ye,” with “comfort” elongated to fully embrace us as he goes on to sing our rough places plain and the choir responds by giving glory to the Lord. Whew! Breathe now. And that’s just the first twelve(ish) minutes. 

Perkins also hopes that you will appreciate the da capos for the same dramatic reason. The term (literally “from the head”) means go back to the start and do it again. He compared the da capo concept to the argument of a loving couple. “I love you, oh, now we are having a fight, I really do love you.” The beginning is repeated “but,” promised Perkins “with a new flavor.” Surely you know the treble aria “He was despised” from the beginning of Part II. Must not the “spitting” in the angular middle section return, with even more dramatic conviction, to the sorrowful opening melody? For a reminder, listen to this performance:

Even – perhaps especially – individual words are just as important. “It is not only about the hearing of the word; it’s about the meaning of the word,” explained Perkins using as an example “Behold,” the word which leaps the octave, one voice part after another, to begin Part II: “Behold the Lamb of God.”  The second syllable landing on the upper octave will reflexively bear most of the vocal weight. “Reflex” doesn’t work for Perkins; Jennens intent must prevail.

SIDEBAR: There’s another important “Behold” later, in the bass recitative – “Behold, I tell you a mystery” – with an entirely different mood. This is one of my Messiah chills moments. Do you have some of your own?

When I mentioned that one performer in the upcoming concert said they hoped Perkins wouldn’t change much, the conductor’s eyes lit with amusement as he feigned a gentle grimace and said he understood that folks want their Messiah to be recognizable. 

Perhaps, mused Perkins, it was the recent “Dinner with Handel” production (reviewed here in OAW) that had folks wondering about his approach to the Messiah. Perkins and Stephen Pettitt concocted the Dinner pasticcio piece to give audiences a fanciful look at Handel’s world. Fear not–there will be no Lillibullero in this Messiah.

And yet the performance will be original. Because whether a show on Broadway or a Messiah triple-header “if everyone is working to the best of their ability” said Perkins, “it is always original.” Then, rather philosophically, he added “and you’ll never be in an audience with the same people again.”

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You will have your favorite 16-voice chorus, 9 of whom are PBO/Cappella Romana Messiah veterans; your orchestra of 16; and four soloists. PBO’s Messiah Program Book is posted here. But you will have one change to deal with as PBO welcomes you to their new performance venue, Sanctuary Hall at First Congregational Church (this is your new venue reminder No. 2). You aren’t alone there. Perkins will “meet” his new hall in the first choral rehearsal.

You will see Perkins on the Messiah stage as keyboardist and conductor. But he is also a King’s College Cambridge choral scholar. Read this 2018 interview for information on Perkins’ musical journey. Do his keyboard and choral parts serve equally in his own performance practice? You would assume they would, in directing choral forces. He said, however, that if he is struggling in his examination of an instrumental phrase, for example, on keyboard he will “physicalize the music by singing it.” Now there’s a possible life philosophy to ponder. 

While Perkins has gotten to know the Portland Baroque Orchestra instrumentalists he would meet his Messiah choral musicians, the singers from Cappella Romana, for the first time on December 2nd. “Ah, the blind date,” he said with a chuckle. He knows they are some of Portland’s finest but what will be his first task with the choir only four days before the first Messiah performance? “I will listen,” he said.  

And listen he did. 

It was frosty last Monday night when the chorus gathered for the keyboard rehearsal, ready to sing for their new conductor. Can you guess what movement he chose to listen to first? Just ahead in Part II you will find the answer. Oregon ArtsWatch was at that rehearsal to discover (and report back to you) some of the ways PBO’s new conductor in PBO’s new Messiah venue will reintroduce you to an old friend. Anew.