Laurence Cummings' powerful 'Messiah' walks in darkness

“Cummings’s ‘Messiah’ was less celebratory and more reverential than previous versions I have seen at Powell Hall. It felt more informed by the Passion aspect of the piece than, say, the bracing version Bernard Labadie gave us back in 2015 or even the more dramatic Matthew Halls “Messiah” from 2018. That made the work no less compelling, though, and added a sense that we were on a journey from darkness into light. Besides, any “Messiah” that doesn’t seriously mess with Handel is welcome at what Dickens calls ‘this festive season of the year’…

“Baritone Jonathon Adams was an authoritative ‘voice of God’ in ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ ‘Why do the nations so furiously rage together’ and, with the crystal-clear accompaniment of trumpeters Julian Kaplan and Austin Williams, ‘The trumpet shall sound’….Adams, and Myers all clearly knew their parts well, and reached out to draw the audience into the emotional core of their songs.”