A year on from their tour of Castilla y Leon, where the opening notes of Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ were met with an energetic standing ovation by the Spanish audiences, Leeds Festival Chorus’s upcoming performance of the full Messiah is taking place a little more locally; in Leeds’ own Roundhay. Designed to showcase the talents of emerging artists studying in the north of England, this will be an intimate show, with seats limited to just 200 and tickets already selling rapidly.
Handel’s Messiah in Leeds this Easter
Members of the York Guildhall Orchestra will be joining the chorus for what promises to be a stunning performance of Handel’s Messiah, one of the greatest choral works ever written. It tells the story of Jesus Christ using familiar texts assembled from the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.
Handel’s response to these texts is truly sublime, from the calm of the Pastoral Symphony, through the heartfelt ‘I Know That My Redeemer Liveth’, to the Heaven-storming ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. With such instantly memorable tunes it is hardly surprising that Messiah has been a firm favourite with audiences ever since its first performance in 1742.
With the chorus’s regular venue, Leeds Town Hall, undergoing renovation work since 2020, the choir has been determined to host as many of their concerts in the immediate area as possible, citing the desire to remain a northern choir that’s accessible to the residents of Leeds. This Easter’s Messiah, in the popular local venue of St Edmund’s Church, in Roundhay provided the perfect opportunity to collaborate with graduates of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
Seb Williman – trumpet
Seb Williman hails from York and recently graduated from the RNCM with a first-class honours degree. This will be Seb’s second collaboration with the chorus, having joined them for their Christmas show just last year, where he threw himself into the much-requested musical extravaganza that was artistic adviser Simon Wright’s arrangement of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, as well as holding the audience spellbound with his own arrangements of Handel and Vivaldi.
Christian Loizou – bass
Christian Loizou is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in music performance at the RNCM. He made his international debut at Wexford Festival Opera in 2023 as a Moroccan Soldier in the world premiere of Tutino’s La Ciociara and returned in 2024 to play Yeats and The Judge in another world premiere, Caruso’s Lady Gregory in America. Christian is a keen concert soloist and performs regularly across the UK in recitals and concerts.
Jane Burnell – soprano
Performing soprano in the Messiah is a very familiar experience for Jane Burnell, who completed a Master of Music in vocal and opera studies at the RNCM in 2023. Jane started the 2024/2025 season by making her international debut with Wexford Festival Opera performing the role of Molly Allgood in Caruso’s Lady Gregory in America. Jane will be Mademoiselle Silberklang in Mozart’s The Impresario with Buxton International Festival and will also be Wexford Factory artist this autumn.
Sam Rose – tenor
Based in Manchester, tenor Sam Rose, is currently studying towards a bachelor’s degree in vocal studies and opera at the RNCM. Following his most recent role as Bastien in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne, which he performed around Lincolnshire and at the RNCM, Sam will be appearing as Lechmere in Owen Wingrave for the College’s Chamber Opera this April, shortly before joining Leeds Festival Chorus for the Messiah.
Kieron-Connor Valentine – countertenor
As is the chorus’s wont, they are again returning to the traditional use of a countertenor instead of the more modern alto part. Kieron-Connor Valentine graduated from the RNCM with a bachelor’s degree in vocal studies, before adding a master’s in vocal performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and recently, opera from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Simon Wright – artistic adviser and conductor
The chorus’s own Simon Wright is himself a graduate of the Royal Manchester College of Music (now the RNCM). Simon has been conductor and artistic adviser of the chorus since 1975 and musical director and principal conductor of the York Guildhall Orchestra since 1992. In 2018, Simon was awarded an honorary fellowship of York St John University.
Tickets for the event are available from the Leeds Festival Chorus website.
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