Local musicians who want to change that are hosting a choral workshop this month to help educate more young people about the music from the iconic work.

The Academy of Sacred Music, a local group that promotes the use of nondenominational sacred music, is sponsoring a Choral Institute on June 23-24. The workshop will feature part one of the “Messiah,” the section that is usually performed at Christmas. Part one includes the prophecy of the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, and His birth, which corresponds to the Christian seasons of Advent and Christmas.

The workshop will help prepare singers for a performance Dec. 18 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona that will include soloists and a chamber orchestra. The academy is co-sponsoring the holiday concert along with the Cathedral Music Ministry.

The event will feature the Cathedral Festival Choir, which includes the Cathedral choir and other area singers. Workshop participants may audition for the December concert during the workshop. Members of the Blair Concert Chorale have been invited to attend the workshop that is also open to any area singers.

Robert Long, music director for the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and interim director for the Blair Concert Chorale, plays the organ and directs the Cathedral Festival Choir for the 125th diocesan anniversary Mass on May 31. Photo for the Mirror by Mary Haley

Local musician Robert Long, the Cathedral’s music director, said he’s noticed many young singers today don’t know the music of the “Messiah.” Unlike musicians of generations past, Long said he has had to teach the choral selections of the “Messiah” to several young singers.

Ann-Marie, his wife, is also a singer with the Cathedral Choir, and noticed the lack of knowledge about the work when she was practicing as a soprano in several choirs. She suggested the

“Messiah” as the subject of the academy’s annual summer workshop. Robert Long is a co-founder of the academy along with Judy Fischer, a former Cathedral choir member now deceased. Long has served as a board member and music director since its inception in 1997.

“It’s been my experience that young people who come in for it (the Messiah) didn’t know it the way older adults who had done it before (knew it),” he said.

Another area musician, Julie Hanlon, agreed that many young people today are unfamiliar with classical sacred music, including the “Messiah,” and some haven’t heard of the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Hanlon, who holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Susquehanna University and a master’s degree in opera performance from Florida State University, has taught music education at local schools. She currently teaches at Grier School in Birmingham.

When she asked her music appreciation class of nine students how many had heard of the “Hallelujah Chorus,” only four raised their hands.

“A handful of them had no idea what it was, had never heard of it before,” said Hanlon of the piece that is often featured in films, TV shows and commercials. “A couple did know it because they have parents who know it and probably play it around the house at Christmas.”

Hanlon has sung the “Messiah” arias or pieces for soloists as a soprano for several years and will be one of the soloists at the December concert at the Cathedral. She said her favorite aria is “Rejoice Greatly, O daughter of Zion” and her favorite choral piece is “For Unto Us (a Child is Born),'” both from the first part of the “Messiah.”

She’s not sure why many young people today don’t listen to classical music but she thinks it might be due to the fast pace of their world. She said in her class when she played one movement or section of a classical work, her students were amazed that it lasted 20 minutes.

“It’s a terrible thing to say, but I think it’s probably because of the short attention span of young people,” she said. “The way kids get things today is so fast and they favor artists who sing the same songs and just change the words. For them, going to a concert is little short bursts of things but if they go to the ‘Messiah,’ they’re going to sit there for an hour then maybe have short breaks.”

The ‘Messiah’ in depth

The workshop will also feature retired Penn State University professor of music Richard Kennedy, who will teach vocal technique. Kennedy, who has taught voice lessons for 50 years, said he will instruct workshop attendees on such things as breath control.

“I will talk about vocal technique such as breathing for singing and a little bit about how the voice works, with anatomy and function, and also about tone and resonance,” said Kennedy, who also taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Rhode Island College.

Kennedy has sung in concerts directed by Long for several years, most recently as a tenor soloist at the Cathedral’s Christmas concert last year and also as a member of the Cathedral Festival Choir during Holy Week at Easter. Kennedy said he’s sung the “Messiah” many times and his favorite aria is “Every Valley Shall be Exalted.”

He said the students he taught were mostly music majors and therefore familiar with classical works such as the “Messiah.” He also said classical music continues to be very popular in the State College area where he lives.

“So I’m not sensing any falling off around here,” Kennedy said.

A lengthy resume

Long is no stranger to choral groups, having directed such groups for the past 40 years. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in musical education at Susquehanna University and a master’s degree in choral conducting from Penn State University, he began his musical career as organist and musical director at St. Mary’s Church in Altoona. He also taught music classes at St. Mary’s School next door.

“That was a great job, it taught me a lot,” said Long, who added he learned about Catholic liturgy from a priest at the parish.

Following his work at St. Mary’s, Long became the music director at the Cathedral in Altoona. He held that post for seven years when he was named music and choir director at the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

He kept that post until a new cardinal brought in his own music director. For the next 20 years, Long served as music director at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Chatham, N.J. Then last year when a position, his former job, at the Cathedral in Altoona became available, he and Ann-Marie moved back to the area and he once again became music director at the Cathedral.

Long praised the Cathedral as a special place for singers, and audiences, because of its acoustics. He has directed past Cathedral choirs in churches and cathedrals across 13 counties on European tours but none of those structures comes close to the sound of the Cathedral in Altoona.

“The remarkable acoustics in this building, it’s just an incredible sound,” he said. “There’s so much talent in this area, and being at the Cathedral, it’s just a wonderful space for something like this.”

His favorite piece from the “Messiah” is the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

“I love the fact that there are always people in the audience who are willing to sing along,” he said.

Long history of performance

The academy has hosted a “Messiah” sing-along at Christmas since 2019 at various churches in Hollidaysburg. This year, the Christmas concert featuring the “Messiah” will replace the “Messiah” sing-along.

The “Messiah” has been the mainstay for choirs around the world at Christmastime for decades. It was created by German composer George Friderick Handel, who wrote the “Messiah” in 1741 in only 24 days, according to a report on the website yourclassical.com. It was first performed a year later in Ireland.

“I saw heaven before me and the great God Himself,” Handel wrote when he finished the oratorio, a large body of music for choirs, vocalists and orchestra.

Initially groups performed the latter section for Easter because it relates to the Passion and resurrection of Jesus. They added a Christmas performance of the first section as a marketing ploy when promoters saw the large crowds that gathered at Easter, according to the website.

Although choirs continued to perform parts of the work twice a year, since the 1960s the “Messiah” has become a Christmas fixture in communities worldwide, according to the website. The “Hallelujah Chorus” was also usually performed at Christmastime because of its growing popularity, although it’s not in the first section.

The tradition of the audience standing for the piece dates back to the oratorio’s London premiere in 1743. Supposedly King George II became so enthused about the performance that he rose to his feet, therefore requiring the audience to stand. Since then, audiences have always stood to hear the famous piece.

Sally Williams, who is president of the board of the Blair Concert Chorale and a soprano singer, has participated in the academy’s holiday sing-along for many years. She expects several members of the chorale will attend both the workshop and the Cathedral concert.

“I think a lot of us will because we love to sing the ‘Messiah’ and to do it at the Cathedral with chamber music would be really nice,” she said.

Williams said the chorale, which is currently under the direction of Long, has several young singers including one high school student. She also said some local high school choir directors have included parts of the “Messiah” in their repertoires.

Battling audience decline

But attendance at classical music concerts has declined nationwide, according to the website americanorchestras.org. Participation was down 4% from 1998 to 2002, and has dropped another 13% since then, due in large part to the pandemic.

Managers of concert halls believe the cause has many components, such as labor disputes in orchestras, and a trend leaning away from classical to more modern music, according to the website for WFMT, a classical music station in Chicago. A growing number of modern works are written by composers whose music reflects their diverse backgrounds. Today’s music is written by an increasingly larger group of composers including women, African Americans and Hispanic Americans, according to the website.

Locally, Williams said audiences for the chorale have shrunk in recent years.

“I know that when I first started, we had to have two nights (for concerts) but that doesn’t happen anymore,” said Williams, who has sung with the chorale since 1992.

But she said smaller audiences shouldn’t prevent groups from performing works such as the “Messiah.”

“It’s a beautiful piece of work and I don’t think anyone should let it die,” she said.

If you go

What: The Academy of Sacred Music’s Choral Institute workshop

Where: St John’s the Evangelist Catholic Church, 344 Bayton Ave., Lakemont

When: June 23-24, 6 to 9 p.m. both nights

Cost: A $20 registration fee is required for adult participants while high school and college students may attend for free. The registration fee should be paid on the night of the first session. To register, send your name, voice part and email address to academyofsacredmusic@gmail.com.