Chicago Classical Review

It has been a vexing season for any Chicagoan hoping to hear music of Handel other than Messiah. Excepting the ubiquitous yuletide oratorio performances, the city’s major ensembles have eschewed Handel this year, with little relief in sight looking ahead to next season.

Oak Park’s Handel Week Festival, an annual three-concert series in late winter dedicated to the work of the German Baroque master, has graciously filled this void. The festival concluded its 27^th season at Pilgrim Congregational Church on Sunday in grand fashion, offering fine performances of two substantial choral rarities under artistic director Dennis E. Northway.

The early Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate was Handel’s first large-scale choral work set in English. It was commissioned by the British royal family in 1713 to mark the Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of Spanish Succession that had been raging in Europe for over a decade, and is mainly cast in Handel’s indelible celebratory vein.

Presiding over a chamber orchestra of area freelancers, a volunteer chorus, and a first-rate group of soloists, Northway led a spirited account of Handel’s exultant pairing. While the chorus sounded fitfully insecure in the early going, under Northway they worked themselves into form over the course of the afternoon, ultimately singing with poise and determined commitment as they tackled Handel’s demanding writing.

Northway opted to begin with the Jubilate, where mezzo-soprano Michelle Wrighte lent her dusky tone to “O be joyful in the Lord” and blended admirably with sonorous baritone Noah Gartner in a later duet. Tenor Cameo Humes was a standout, singing with pure, projected timbre throughout the performance, first on display in “For the Lord is gracious,” a trio with Wrighte and Gartner.

The Te Deum was offered on the second half. Even at Northway’s judiciously conservative tempos, the spirit of Handel’s jubilant choruses carried through, punctuated by fine turns from each of the soloists, particularly soprano Kimberly McCord in “To Three Cherubim.” Trumpeters Greg Fudula and Jhoan Garcia lent burnished solidity to the orchestra, their clarion calls highlighting the larger ensemble numbers.

The moving Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline (also known by the name of its first chorus, The Ways of Zion Do Mourn), HWV 264, was offered between the Jubilate and the Te Deum, a curious programming choice that resulted in an ample first half and an abbreviated second. Queen Caroline was Handel’s patron and personal friend for over 30 years, and the blow of her loss is palpably conveyed in Northway’s account of this somber score.

In the opening Symphony, timpani rolls channel a funeral procession to establish a mournful ambience. “The ways of Zion do mourn” begins with hesitant, halting statements in the violins, their phrases literally broken, before the chorus intones their lamenting lines. The depiction of grief continues in the angular “How are the mighty fall’n!” and Northway and his charges were at their finest capturing this music’s stricken state.

The soloists appear as a quartet throughout the Funeral Anthem, and were similarly attuned to Handel’s deep sorrow. “When the ear hear her” provided a brief moment of respite, with soprano McCord beautifully lofting her phrases, and tenor Humes continuing to impress with his fluent strains.

A choral highlight came in “Their bodies are buried in peace,” where Northway and his singers created a shadowy sepulchral atmosphere, before a dramatic pivot to major on the words “but their name liveth evermore,” projecting hope while also capturing the vacillating experience of loss. Northway and his colleagues deserve immense credit for bringing this neglected repertoire so vividly to life.

The Handel Week Festival returns with performances on February 21, 28, and March 7, 2027. handelweek.com

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