The Ensemble Singers, under Mr. Lloyd Matthews, direction, and accompanied by the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Gary Burgess gave the first of two scheduled performances of Handel?s Messiah on Saturday evening, at the Wesley Methodist Church in Hamilton.

As has become custom, both the chorus and orchestra were augmented by overseas guests. All four soloists also were guest artists.

Each of them can boast, from the programme notes, excellent resumes. Each of them possesses as fine a voice as we have heard in concert setting in Bermuda in recent times.

Ramone Diggs has all the makings of a first rate tenor, and can only benefit from time?s passing, as his frame and voice further mature. John Kramar has just that maturity, with the resulting resonance.

The score calls for a Contralto, and Mezzo-Soprano Sharon Munden, possessed of a very beautiful voice, filled the bill admirably, mellifluently, if sometimes, on occasion it seemed projection was a challenge.

Louise Topping, who has some connection to the Joell family of Bermuda, was the soprano. An experienced performer and professor of voice, her performance was in every respect pleasing, particularly her use of decoration in the Baroque style.

Seated as I was near the strong violin cell section, I had difficulty hearing the chorus. After Part One I moved to the rear of the hall and the difference was marked.

At twenty nine voices strong, a few voices short of the original performers, they were excellent in their choruses. For example in the chorus ?Since By Man Came Death?, they were required to enter after just one chord of one beat and continue .

Obviously a director?s challenge is to keep the voices in tune throughout the chromatically changing harmonies.

Since the phrases commence on the off beat, rhythm is a concern as well.

Small things perhaps, but the measure of the choir?s excellence is that they habitually did the small things, and everything else, for that matter, well.

That said my feeling is that the sound of the choir was somewhat light in some choruses. Not so in the choruses at the end of parts 11 and 111; Hallelujah, and Worthy Is the Lamb. Here they were simply majestic.

One highlight of the evening for me was the orchestra?s rendition of The Pastoral Symphony; the strings were in superlative form. Congratulations to leaders Lisa Hollis, Davis France, and Karen O?Brien.

Especially notable was the performance of guest Antonio Dangerfield on the piccolo trumpet. For convenience the trumpet parts in the works are for B Flat trumpets, unlike the original.

Mr. Dangerfield, playing a piccolo trumpet in A was transposing up a semi-tone all night. In The Trumpet Shall Sound, and also gilding the orchestra in the choruses Hallelujah, and Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain, we playing of a special, joyous quality.

Taken together as a whole this was an extremely pleasing listening experience.

Very little went amiss. Dr. Burgess and his orchestra, director Lloyd Matthews and all the Ensemble Singers, and the guest soloists have every right to be proud of their fine performances. It was extremely satisfying to hear.