Handel’s Messiah returns to Brownsville in a live concert performance at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the TSC Arts Center, sponsored by The Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts.
The Brownsville Festival Chorus and Orchestra, led by Sean Taylor, joins the UTRGV Master Chorale, and high school students from Harlingen High School South and Hanna, James Pace, Porter and Veterans Memorial early college high schools to present this concert for the sixth consecutive year.
Taylor, of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Music, said he looks forward to welcoming a live audience to this year’s concert. Via email he said he’s excited to lead more than 175 musicians in this year’s production of “Messiah & More” and a capella classical Christmas music performed by Alium Spiritum, a professional vocal quartet based in Brownsville. Alium Spiritum will perform solos and additional classical choral music throughout the evening.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the concert begins at 7 p.m. Masks are encouraged.
“The Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts has provided generous support to bring the best orchestra musicians and professional soloists to Brownsville this year,” Taylor, conductor, director of choral Studies at UTRGV and artistic director of Alium Spiritum, said.
This year’s soloists are tenor Jason Vest, from Cincinnati, Ohio, mezzo-soprano Keely Rhodes, from Aiken, South Carolina, soprano Diane Walters, originally from Dayton, Ohio and Taylor, who are members of Alium Spiritum, a professional vocal quartet that Walters and Taylor founded in 2018. A portion of the concert will be conducted by UTRGV student Jesus Garcia.
Walters, described as a “clear, beautifully colored soprano” (Broad Street Review) and “sweetly endearing” (Music in Cincinnati), is a specialist in collaborative music and frequent soloist based in Brownsville. She has sung with ensembles across the country and in Europe and is on the voice faculty at UTRGV.
Taylor, a Pennsylvania native, is associate professor of Voice and director of Choral Studies at UTRGV. He conducts the Master Chorale and Chamber Singers, teaches applied voice, conducting, and choral literature and is director of Traditional Music at First United Methodist Church in Harlingen.
Hailed for her versatility and “true rich tone,” Rhodes enjoys singing all styles of music. She has performed as a soloist and collaborative artist in the U.S., Italy, Central and South America. She is the artistic director for two choral organizations; The South Boundary Singers and Belles Canto. She holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.
Vest is a member of the Grammy-award winning choral group, Conspirare, with which he has toured throughout the U.S. He delights in the opportunity to communicate closely with audiences and has performed for the Mexico Liederfest in Monterrey and the Vocal Artistry Art Song Festival in Albuquerque, as well as in recitals across the U.S.
