WASO tenor recalls inspired Messiah performance in post-Katrina New Orleans

09 Nov 2016

By The Record

The chorus of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, who will be performing Handel’s Messiah at the Perth Concert Hall on 2-3 December. Photo: Supplied

By Caroline Smith 

When tenor Jay Reso joins the rest of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) next month for their performance of Handel’s Messiah, it will be a reminder of a concert he took part in 11 years ago in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.

Mr Reso was brought up in New Orleans, and as a member of the city’s Symphony Chorus, he took part in the first classical concert held there after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Performing Messiah was a Christmas tradition for the Symphony Chorus, but when Katrina hit in August of that year, the destruction and hardship which followed meant the concert was not expected to go ahead.

“The beautiful Orpheum Theatre, often used for musical performances, was destroyed – it looked like classical performances in New Orleans were crushed,” Mr Reso said.

“The chorus members had dispersed and many lived outside of the city; the music director’s home was destroyed and he had relocated to Chicago.”

For WASO tenor Jay Reso, performing Handel’s Messiah in hurricane-damaged New Orleans was a fulfilling spiritual experience. Photo: Supplied

But then members of the group began to exchange emails suggesting they could put on a concert anyway, ‘just for fun’.

“Those first few people turned into 10 and then 20. Our music director promised if we could get 40 people back together, he’d fly down to conduct. That number quickly grew to 80 singers and we began planning for a public performance,” Mr Reso said.

Support from the community was central to their efforts, with a local Catholic high school providing its choral room for rehearsals, and the Holy Name of Jesus Church – on Loyola University campus – being offered as a venue.

On the day of the concert, 18 December 2005, the Church was packed out, and tickets sold-out, Mr Reso said, adding that the performance was an emotional one for the audience and chorus alike.

“Many singers had tears in their eyes,” he said.

“Everything had been grey and negative all around us, on the news and all around us in New Orleans, so doing the concert was very important and inspiring to all of us.”

Mr Reso was particularly encouraged by seeing his former music teacher, retired Carmelite nun Sister Sharon Marie McCauley CSJ in the audience. Later he found out that it had been her first outing for a decade.

“She sat in the audience with a beaming and soul-touching smile. That made all the work of rehearsal, organising the performance and singing more than worthwhile,” he said.

“The Church was packed to the rafters. People who had never attended a philharmonic performance or listened to classical music attended – they needed to hear the message of hope and joy that Handel captured in this work.”

Messiah – composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741 – depicts Christ’s birth, passion and resurrection, with a written text based on the King James Bible as well as Psalms that were included in the Book of Common Prayer.

WASO will be presenting two performances of the oratorio on 2 and 3 December at the Perth Concert Hall, involving a suite of solo vocalists, the full WASO chorus and the orchestra. Tickets start from $40, and are available at http://tickets.waso.com.au/single/PSDetail.aspx?psn=8994.