Community Chorus to perform ‘Messiah’

Published 2:30 am Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Throughout its 50 years, the Community Chorus of Port Townsend and East Jefferson County has performed some of the best pieces from the choral music canon, but none is quite as intertwined with the organization’s history as George Frideric Handel’s classic, “Messiah.”

When local singers banded together in 1975, it was because they wanted to sing and perform the beloved oratorio, often called a masterpiece of inspired melodies and Baroque splendor. The chorus has sung the piece many times since.

Community Chorus of Port Townsend and East Jefferson County collaborates with other Olympic Peninsula choirs, sometimes performing in Sequim.

RainShadow Chorale’s artistic director Laurie de Leonne conducts singers and orchestra this time around. She is the latest in a roster of 14 directors over 50 years. The chorale’s collaborative pianist, Lisa Lanza, who de Leonne describes as “an institution in herself,” will be at the keyboard. Lanza has accompanied the chorus in the past, one of about 16 pianists over the 50-year lifespan of the chorus.

“Music is a co-creative art,” de Leonne said. “A composer writes knowing full well that in order for the music to live, it takes others to perform. It’s a map. To be able to lift music off the page, you have a whole different set of creation.”

As conductor, she added, “My performance is the rehearsal. By the time I get to concert, that’s the choir’s performance.”

Peggy Albers, an alto and past president of the chorus, expanded on the notion of choral singing as collaborative art.

“You can’t sing the whole ‘Messiah’ by yourself in the shower!” she joked. “It is our great privilege to channel the inspiration, skill and genius of composers into reality. How lucky we are to bring this to life.”

De Leonne said that although she has performed isolated movements of “Messiah” before, this is her maiden voyage conducting the full scope of the work.

With choir, soloists, and orchestra, it is one story in three sections: the prophecy and birth of the Messiah, the death and resurrection, and the final redemption and victory over death. Each movement has its own character.

“The challenges are in the chapters,” de Leonne said. “It’s a movie, really; it doesn’t make sense in chopped up portions.”

Chorus origins

Back in 1975, sopranos Marilyn Sterbick and Gerry Hyatt-Bergstrom, both vocal music educators at the time in Chimacum and Port Townsend, respectively, and another soprano, Linda Knowles, thought the time was ripe to launch a fledgling chorus. They believed that “Messiah” was the perfect choice for its inaugural concerts. They persuaded Knowles’ voice teacher, Russell Abbott, to direct. The new choir drew about 100 singers.

“We packed the house at the Presbyterian Church that first year,” Sterbick said.

As she did in 1975, Sterbick still sings in the chorus and is a soprano soloist for the 2025 concerts. She also is a regular member of RainShadow Chorale.

“We had so much enthusiasm and momentum back then! We had a vision of a place where people could rekindle their love of singing, sharpen their skills, and grow,” Sterbick said.

According to president Atkins, the Community Chorus continues to be a way for people to return to singing and boost their abilities, offering help for novice or out-of-practice singers; no auditions are required.

Larry Costello, a participant 50 years ago, is singing again this year. His involvement now is made more special since two of his daughters are joining him. “It makes my heart happy to know that they appreciate ‘Messiah’ as much as I do,” he said.

Along with Sterbick and Costello, Germaine Arthur was an original singer in 1975, and is the only continuous member in the chorus’s 50-year history. She has held just about every job on the board of directors. She said that when she sings “Messiah,” she can imagine performing in cathedrals.

“I feel a connection to choral singers across the centuries,” she said.

Instrumentalists such as pianist Lanza have played many a “Messiah.” That includes violinist Kristin Smith, who is playing again and serving as orchestra personnel manager. “We are all PT area musicians who play in a variety of bands, ensembles, and other groups, and in symphony concerts with the Port Townsend and Port Angeles Symphony orchestras,” Smith explained. “We’re so happy for the opportunity to play ‘Messiah’!”

An event

“’Messiah’ is an experience,” de Leonne said. “We have in our bodies the scope of this music. We feel every moment of it, and we have been changed while singing it.”

In addition to noting the hard work by singers and organizers, de Leonne made special mention not only of Lanza, who she said brings her full skill as a pianist, but also Helen Lauritzen, who has assisted on piano, and Leslie Lewis, who offered music skills classes.

“So many people have been willing to throw their hat in!” de Leonne enthused.

Soprano Marilyn Sterbick described de Leonne as a gift to the musical community. “She brings enthusiasm, training, encouragement, and a lot of fun,” she said. “She inspires the best out of each of us.

“The spirit of Community Chorus founders lives on after 50 years of making music. It wouldn’t have lasted if it weren’t for our volunteers, our board, music conductors, financial sponsors and faithful audience,” Sterbick continued. “We have made inspiring music, lifelong friendships, and a committed, talented community.”

Concert tickets are available at brownpapertickets.com or are a suggested $20 at the door. For more information about the Community Chorus, visit ptchorus.org, call 360-643-3345, or find the group on Facebook.

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Conductor Laurie de Leonne describes, in her program notes for “Messiah” concerts, that few works in Western music are as enduring as George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.”

“Nearly three centuries after its first performance in 1742, it remains a touchstone of joy, faith, and reflection,” de Leonne noted. “To hear ‘Messiah’ today is to join a living tradition that began in the Baroque era and continues to evolve with each generation.”

Handel was born in Germany, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach. He settled in London after becoming a British citizen in 1727. For decades he was England’s chief composer of Italian opera, but by the late 1730s, public tastes had changed, de Leonne said. Handel turned instead toward the oratorio, a distinctly English music form.

His burst of inspiration allowed him to complete “Messiah” in an “astonishing” 24 days, de Leonne said, especially considering the length of the work. The text describes the prophecy, the life of Christ, and his resurrection.

The musical storytelling, often called word painting, figures prominently in Handel’s vision. When the text reads “the crooked straight,” for example, the musical line jumps up and down, and then straightens out. With a movement called “And with His stripes we are healed,” de Leonne said Handel brings the visceral beating of Christ into the tempo of the music. And when describing sheep wandering off, the music, too, wanders.

Without paying attention to these subtleties that Handel wrote, “we wouldn’t be honoring his work or the art of vocal music,” de Leonne continued. The voice, the singer’s instrument, can effectively convey the text and the intent of the music on the page.

“’Messiah’ endures not because it is old, but because it remains alive – reborn uniquely in each community each time it is sung, each time it stirs the heart of a listener,” de Leonne said.

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Lynn Nowak has been a member of the Community Chorus for 45 years and has written about the group for most of that time.