Music director Scott Hanoian conducts the UMS Choral Union and the Ann Arbor Symphony in this annual community tradition.

Handel’s Messiah was composed over the course of a month in 1741, six months before its premiere in Dublin at a new concert hall. Even the dress rehearsal was ticketed, and the morning newspapers excitedly reported that the oratorio “far surpasses anything of that nature, which has been performed in this or any other Kingdom.” The premiere was a triumph; the Dublin Journal proclaimed, “The sublime, the grand, and the tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestic, and moving words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished heart and ear.” Nearly 300 years later, Handel’s Messiah still evokes joy, and UMS’s presentation of the oratorio fills audiences with emotion for both the beauty of the piece and the pride of hearing friends and colleagues from the community bring this glorious work to life.