NEW PALESTINE — The instruments came rolling in: violins, a harp, a trumpet, a French horn. The musicians of the Greenfield Community Orchestra removed the tools of their trade from velvet-lined cases, polishing up silver and brass, inserting reeds, tuning up for a Saturday morning rehearsal.
When conductor Barry LeBlanc stepped to the front of the room, all eyes went to him. With the raising and lowering of his baton, the minor-keyed music filled the room, striking a chord for all who could hear of something deep, ancient and sacred: the opening strains of George Frideric Handel’s “The Messiah.”
At 2 p.m. Dec. 1 the Greenfield Community Orchestra will play at a community sing of “The Messiah” at Cross of Grace Lutheran Church, 3519 S. County Road 600W. Orchestra director Angela Mickler invites the public, singers and audience members alike, to join them for this community holiday event.
For the past 12 years, Mickler has organized the annual community sing for “The Messiah.” Although she is the director of Greenfield Community Orchestra, for this event, she typically turns over that responsibility to a guest conductor.
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“I don’t conduct because I want to play,” Mickler confides. And violin is her instrument of choice.
“This is a neat thing that communities do,” Mickler said of the singalong. “People look for them because most people who have sung ‘The Messiah’ before want to sing it again. It’s wonderful music, it’s a challenge — and fun.”
The event is open both to participants and those who want to just come and enjoy the music. No rehearsal is necessary to participate, Mickler said. Those who want to sing are handed a score (the music), accompanied to their sections — soprano, alto, tenor or bass — and directed when to sing by the conductor.
Mickler, with her thumb on the pulse of musical talent in Greenfield, issues the open invitation for the public to come and sing with the chorus, but she handpicks the soloists.
Soloists include Jeri Smith singing “He Shall Feed His Flock,” Sharon Elliott singing, “Behold, a Virgin Shall Conceive” and Mickler’s husband Jim singing “Comfort Ye, My People.”
Rosemary Meagher, a newcomer to Greenfield, will perform the solo “O, Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion.” She met Mickler while singing at church, and Mickler invited her to try a solo. Meagher, from Chicago, sings in the choirs of St. Michael Catholic Church and Greenfield Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
“I sang in Chicago, and I continue to do it here,” she said. “It’s great to keep building my music skills.”
R. Ryan Endris, who recently moved back to Indiana from New York State where he had been teaching at a small liberal arts college, will take on all the bass solos in “The Messiah.” It was through his work as director of music at Greenfield Christian Church that he met Mickler, who invited him to come and sing. Endris thought it would be a good way to get involved in the community.
“While I’m a singer, my graduate degrees are in conducting,” Endris said, “so I rarely have the opportunity to make sound.”
The orchestra has been practicing weekly on Wednesday nights for the past two months in preparation for the event, with the occasional Saturday morning set aside for rehearsal with soloists. The orchestra and soloists will hold a final rehearsal shortly before the performance before inviting the public in.
The group won’t attempt to undertake the entire three-hour oratorio, Mickler said, but just the parts that are associated with Christmas: the first third of the oratorio followed by ‘The Hallelujah Chorus.’”
Meagher, who has sung some excerpts from “The Messiah” in the past, is looking forward to having a crowd singing with her at the Dec. 1 event.
“Because,” Meagher said, “who doesn’t like the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’?”
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What: Greenfield Community Orchestra hosts a community sing-along of George Frideric Handel’s “The Messiah”
When: 2 p.m. Dec. 1
Where: Cross of Grace Lutheran Church, 3519 S. County Road 600 W., New Palestine
Info: Admission is free to participants and spectators; participants will be given music upon arrival
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