Hallelujah! Wild Arts to make North East debut with festive classic
Even a centuries old favourite can be seen afresh. David Whetstone finds out about a new Messiah coming our way
It’ll be Handel’s Messiah but not as you know it – or if you’re new to this hugely popular 18th Century work, as a benchmark against which to judge all future performances.
That’s the promise of an adventurous new company which is coming to perform in the North East for the first time, attracted by the historic splendour of Hexham Abbey.
“Very exciting,” says Orlando Jopling, artistic director of Wild Arts.
“Most of the places we’re visiting are new to us, but this is definitely our first visit to Northumberland.”
These are tough times for the arts. There’s not a lot of money sloshing around, whether you’re producer, performer or potential audience member.
But just try to stop an innovator innovating.
“I think there’s always room for a high quality yet flexible and smaller scale operation like Wild Arts,” insists Orlando.
“The fact that we’ve grown from nine shows in the first year to over 50 this year would seem to show there’s a demand.”
The company, based in the South East, was founded in 2022. It specialises in taking opera and oratorios such as Messiah to beautiful places but treading lightly on the planet.
Orlando, highly experienced and equipped with an impressive CV, was in at the start.
As a conductor he has worked with the Royal Opera House and English National Ballet. As a cellist he has given more than 150 solo recitals.
He has collaborated with theatre companies, dancers, poets and the occasional superstar like Sinead O'Connor; and for 15 years he has been artistic director of a chamber music festival in Essex.
With Wild Arts, he “wanted to create a company that would present the amazing works that I love in a way everybody can enjoy, absolute music lovers and those completely new to it.
“We do it in a way that’s drama led, using singers who can act.
“I’m lucky enough to know some fantastic players so I’ve put those together with some of the sensational singers that we’ve found over the years.
“Those are the sort of ingredients we work with but also, really importantly, I wanted to create a company that operates within what I call planetary boundaries.
“That means not flying about the place and generally living in an environmentally sustainable way.
“We went to Berlin earlier this year with The Magic Flute, the whole company travelling by train.
“It was lovely not having to fly. I don’t think anybody flies because they want to. It’s just ridiculously cheap at the moment, artificially cheap.
“It does take a bit longer by train, but I think being environmentally sustainable leads to a better quality of life.
“That’s the hope. And we did it. It was fantastic going to Berlin by train. You leave London at 9am and get to Berlin at 7pm, just in time for dinner – and you’ve had time for a lovely lunch in Cologne.
“Flying is exhausting and getting all the instruments onto a plane can be a nightmare for an orchestra.”
Whether the Berlin audiences appreciated all this, who can say? But the responses from critics and audience members would suggest there’s been no adverse effect.
Last year’s successful tour of Messiah made a follow-up almost inevitable.
Handel’s English language oratorio telling of the life of Christ was first performed in Dublin in 1742 and in London the following year. Since then it has been performed countless times, particularly at this time of year.
Often it comes at you as a wall of sound with massed choirs and a big orchestra giving epic dimensions to the rousing Hallelujah Chorus, at which point it used to be customary for people to spring to their feet.
In fact, it could be said that there’s something ritualistic about attending a performance of Messiah.
Orlando would go a bit further. While loving the “absolutely amazing music”, he confesses: “It can also be very boring in parts. It seems sacrilegious to say so but that’s just an honest opinion.
“I’d say that by bringing it back to life I’ve fallen back in love with the piece. I’d love people to come and give us a go because I think, if they know the piece well, they’ll experience it in a totally different way.
“There are no funny rituals or people standing there in dinner suits. I think if anyone’s new to Messiah, this is the best way to experience it for the first time.”
How gratified he must have been by The Catholic Herald’s reviewer who wrote: “I’ve seen many a Messiah in my time but few as powerfully engaging as this little show which held me in its grip from start to finish.”
And by the audience member who enthused: “I never want to see Messiah any other way.”
So what’s different? For one thing, there’s no massed choir – a tradition which came out of the fondness of choral societies for the work. No enormous orchestra either.
This Messiah is delivered by just 12 players and eight singers. But it’s enough, says Orlando, and not far removed from the ensemble that performed at the Dublin premiere which went down a storm.
“That was a small theatre but rammed to the rafters. We’ve done this in Chichester Cathedral, which is enormous, but because cathedrals are resonant the sound absolutely filled the space.
“I don’t want people to think this will be lacking impact because the acoustic does all the work, and we’ve got the trumpets and drums and everything. And I’ll be directing from the harpsichord.”
The singers in this Wild Arts Messiah have memorised all the words – so no sheet music in hands – and have worked with theatre director Tom Morris who ran Bristol Old Vic for more than a decade and won a Tony award for War Horse on Broadway.
“He absolutely loves Messiah and has really enjoyed working with the singers to bring the story to life,” says Orlando.
This Messiah tour, following last year’s successful trial run, brings Wild Arts further north than it has ever been before but Orlando says a return with one of its opera productions is not out of the question.
“We would love to come back,” he says.
First, though, you can catch Messiah at Hexham Abbey on December 10 and at Carlisle Cathedral, which the company is also visiting for the first time, on December 11. Find ticket details online at www.wildarts.org.uk/messiah