Merry Opera: Handel's Messiah

Highly acclaimed

This highly acclaimed staged production of Handel's Messiah returns to Northern Ireland. 

From despair to hope

A staged production of Handel’s Messiah by the Merry Opera Company, featuring professional
Northern Irish musicians. 

Twelve singers play characters who experience transformation from need and despair to
understanding and hope as they sing this traditional work.

About the show

In this unusual production of Handel’s Messiah the church as a setting is key. The twelve professional singers play characters from everyday life who find themselves in this sacred place. They do not know each other and they have their own reasons for being there but each is in search of something — consolation, affirmation, forgiveness, direction. Some of them carry the concept of a Messiah in their hearts; some lack that and may feel an absence; some are not religious at all. As they sing through this traditional work, they engage with each other and themselves, ultimately experiencing the transformation from need and despair to understanding and hope.

This production was created in the UK in 2011 by the Merry Opera Company. It has been brought back by request almost every year since. Audiences report that it gives Handel’s Messiah ‘new meaning’, ‘new invigoration’. For this year’s tour, half the professional cast and the organist are Northern Irish musicians. The MOC is grateful to Ulster Touring Opera and Mid and East Antrim Borough Council for financial support.

This production at Portico is supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.