Sheffield Bach Choir’s December presentation of Handel’s “Messiah” (as usual, a complete rendition, from “cover to cover” as we say in Yorkshire) moves this year to the City’s Victoria Hall Methodist Mission just opposite the stage door of the Crucible Theatre. The invasion is necessitated by building work in historic Sheffield Cathedral and the “Messiah” concert will be the second occasion this season that finds the Bach Choir and the National Festival Orchestra being made warmly welcome in the Victoria Hall – the first was a Baroque Festival concert in October.

A magnificent quartet of soloists – Philippa Hyde, David Allsopp, Ben Thapa and Sheffield’s own Matthew Palmer – will be joined by organist and harpsichordist Alan Horsey. Advance booking is strongly advised, as this event traditionally attracts a very substantial audience. Monday 2 December is the date and the concert begins at 7.00 pm to accommodate the rendition of the whole work within a reasonable time-scale at the end of the evening. As usual at Bach Choir performances of “Messiah”, we follow the tradition of holding a Retiring Collection for charitable endeavour and this year the proceeds will go to a special project of social outreach devised by the Victoria Hall.