This sing-along in Lee’s Summit is sure to get masses in the Christmas spirit

For Carl Chinnery, nothing compares to singing Handel’s Messiah this time of year.

“For me there is no better way to celebrate the beginning of the Advent season than to sing the world’s best music at the top of your voice with your best friends and strangers,” Chinnery said.

Chinnery will be one of hundreds of voices expected to participate in the Messiah sing-along at 4 p.m. Dec. 11 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 416 SE Grand Ave., Lee’s Summit. Admission is free, although donations will be accepted. Community singers can bring their own scores, or borrow one for a $10 refundable deposit.

Chinnery has a long history in singing the Messiah. He sang it while growing up as a member of the choir at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City.

“The church choir director was also the music director at my high school, Southwest High School,” Chinnery said. “I always got a double dose of Handel’s Messiah each year.”

Chinnery moved his family to Lake Lotawana when he was in law school, and became an active member with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

“In our growing community of Eastern Jackson County, there is a great need for classical music,” said Chinnery, who helped get the Messiah sing-along to St. Paul’s.

William Baker, who became music director for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in September 2020, envisioned the sing-along as a good way to reach the community “in a meaningful way” during the Christmas season.

“My feeling is that this goal is well-accomplished by offering the event with the very finest professional soloists and orchestra musicians available.”

The 2022 Messiah sing-along is the second one presented by the music ministry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church music ministry. There were more than 200 people at last year’s sing-along.

There is a reason for the big attendance, Baker said.

“I believe the Messiah is indisputably the most beloved piece of classical music composed in the English language,” Baker said.

Baker said numerous aspects of Handel’s background can be heard in Messiah. German-born Handel was influenced by the rich harmonic language of Lutheran chorale, and he loved creating the soaring melodies found in Italian opera.

“Finally, he found his way to England where he added the contrapuntal style of emerging Anglican church music to his compositional toolbox,” Baker said.

“Thus, his oratorio Messiah is operatic in scope, but it brings together all of the elements of music in the Baroque era, German, Italian and English.

“Handel also had a profound sense of drama, which he masterfully applied to the telling of the story of Christ, particularly in the first part of the oratorio that is associated with Christmas.”

The pandemic likely affected community events like the Messiah sing-along.

“I think, as a society, we learned that isolating ourselves from each other — even during an emergency — comes at great peril to our spiritual and emotional health,” Baker said.

“I think anything that brings people together in a meaningful way is more appreciated than ever, given the loss of community events many of us experienced.”