'Hello, could I have three tickets for the Messiah please?'
'He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!'
That conversation did not happen when I booked, and ticket agents for Handel's greatest work probably got bored with the joke years ago. Last night I went to do my bit for provincial arts by going to see the English Symphony Orchestra perform at Coventry Cathedral. It's not a great venue - the acoustics lack something - but frankly that's quibbling. This was the first time I've seen the oratorio in full and live. If you haven't yet, you haven't lived. IMHO.
The soprano, Claire Ormshaw, deserves a special mention. She has the kind of face, and the kind of voice, for which the word 'ravishing' was invented. Pace Anthony Flew, the Argument From Intelligent Design is a very poor argument for deism, let alone Christianity, but if it were a worthwhile argument Claire Ormshaw would be a significant feature of it. 'I know that my Redeemer liveth', indeed.
She's planning to be at the London Handel festival next year. Just thought you ought to know.