ON Saturday, November 13, Wokingham Choral Society (WCS) performed Handel’s Messiah in The Great Hall of Reading University.
This was the first occasion on which they had performed together in public for almost two years, taking their first steps beyond the scourge of Covid-19.
Happily, for the loyal audience, all the familiar ingredients were there: a stimulating pre-concert talk by the Society’s gifted conductor, James Morley Potter, the choir and talented young soloists singing in fine voice, and the Hampstead Chamber Orchestra with Benedict Lewis-Smith on continuo providing an elegant accompaniment to what is possibly the best loved oratorio in the entire repertoire.
It was extremely fortuitous that the concert could take place, albeit with a smaller audience, as 2021 marked the seventieth year of the Society’s existence.
In the intervening period the WCS has grown both in stature and reputation, helped by having the benefit of an unbroken flow of brilliant young conductors including, in recent decades, Graeme Jenkins, Paul Daniel, Stephen Layton and Edward Gardner.
The delight of the audience at the Society’s moving return to the musical scene was nowhere more evident than when, true to custom, it rose to its feet for the Hallelujah Chorus.
The anniversary celebrations continue with a carol concert in St Paul’s Church, Wokingham on December 11, and the programme for 2022 will include performances of the Fauré Requiem and Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
RJE
