Welcome to Paragon Singers’ project Messiah 250. Here you can find information on the background to the project, the events that Paragon Singers is holding and how you can participate.
If you are visiting this page to register for one of our ‘Learning and Participation’ events, then please follow this link.
Introduction to the Project
Messiah 250 is an ambitious project to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the performance of Handel’s Messiah in The Octagon, Bath. The historical background to Messiah in Bath can be found here.
This is a project of many parts. It will culminate in a performance of Messiah on 5th March in St Swithin’s Church, Bath, sung by Paragon Singers together with soloists from Echo Vocal Ensemble and baroque orchestra. This will be a dramatised performance, with stage direction by Tom Guthrie and conducted by Sarah Latto. Ahead of this, however, Sarah and Paragon Singers are holding a number of Learning and Participation events, including a Taster Day workshop, Sing Handel’s Messiah workshop, a Student Learning and Participation workshop for Bath’s university students and a series of short singing events for members of Julian House, Bath’s charity for the homeless. Finally, we are holding a three day rehearsal session at St Swithin’s, at which third year students from Bath Spa University will be filming as part of their final year course assessment.
This project would not be possible without the help of Andrew and Gill Clarke whose idea this is and who have given a substantive proportion of the project’s funding. We are also supported by a major grant from the Arts Council of England. Our thanks to these supporters and to the Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust, Capt Brian Woodford (Friend of Paragon Singers) and to the many people who have contributed to our crowdfunding campaign.
