Easter Gift: Messiah by Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square is preparing to give a special Easter gift to the world! The 2014 Easter Concert featuring Handel’s Messiah will be presented in its entirety. Performances will be given Friday April 18 & Saturday April 19 at 7:30 PM MDT in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Due to the high demand for tickets which could not be met, and a public response of epic proportions (including hundreds of phone calls, letters to the editor, Facebook messages and desperate tweets pouring in from around the world) this concert will now be broadcast LIVE on Friday April 18th online, and then will be made available for free on-demand viewing until 11:59 PM on Monday April 21st. Don’t miss it! Go to:

www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/messiah

Meet The Soloists

Soprano

Melissa Heath is a Utah sweetheart and rising star hailed as a “soaring, sparkling soprano” with “vivacious stage presence”. Due to a last minute cancellation, Ms. Heath will confidently step into this concert as soprano soloist to delight an international audience.

A graduate of Brigham Young University, and the University of Utah School of Music, Ms. Heath obtains her Doctorate of musical arts this May. She currently teaches voice while keeping a busy schedule performing opera and oratorio. She performed in San Francisco earlier this year, and made her international debut in Italy last summer. She is an award winner of the 2014 Las Vegas NATSSA competition.

Ms. Heath performed previously with the Orchestra at Temple Square under the baton of Igor Gruppman in a critically acclaimed concert – selections available on YouTube. 

Mezzo-Soprano

This season, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford returns to the Metropolitan Opera for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Wozzeck, and appears in concert with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony. A native of Sandy, Utah and a Utah State University alum, Ms. Mumford is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and made her debut there as Laura in Luisa Miller. She has performed in numerous operatic roles in major Opera Houses and is also an active concert performer.

Ms. Mumford has several Deutsche Grammophon recordings to her credit, including a duet with Bryn Terfel on the Choir’s Homeward Bound album released last year.

Tenor

Brian Stucki will lend his “heaven-sent” tenor voice to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Messiah. Mr. Stucki is an accomplished artist in both Opera and Oratorio genres, performing extensively throughout the United States and recently debuting internationally. Mr. Stucki is a faculty member of the Westminster College of Salt Lake City. He is a former member of the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program.

Also an accomplished cellist, Brian Skucki has released a recording of Rachmaninoff works on the Tantara label!

Mr. Stucki has performed previously with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Utah Symphony during the Deer Valley® Music Festival.

Bass-Baritone

With multiple seasons at the Met, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Zurich Opera, among his long list of credits, it’s a great honor to welcome the celebrated American bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen. Mr. Ketelsen made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni conducted by Christoph Eschenbach  and continued his career there singing the title role of Figaro, and Mephistopheles in Faust, both conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. His trademark role of Escamillo has been seen at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Bayrische Staatsoper, and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Mr. Ketelsen’s opera credits extend long and deep.

His oratorio credits are also notable. In concert, Mr. Ketelsen made his Carnegie Hall debut with Haydn’s Creation with the Oratorio Society of New York and repeated this work with Music of the Baroque in Chicago.

This weekend will be his first performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

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Be sure to tune in some time this weekend to enjoy this very special Easter gift! Handel’s glorious and incomparable Messiah – in its entirety!

– MoSop

**POST UPDATED 4/16/2014 – Melissa Heath will replace Kiera Duffy as soprano soloist for this concert**