For Immediate Release
November 30, 2000

Carnegie Hall Welcomes Independence Messiah Choir

Carnegie Hall was completely sold out for the Independence Messiah Choir’s debut with the first Handel’s Messiah performance of New York City’s 2000 holiday season. The audience, numbering nearly 3,000, concluded the evening with an enthusiastic standing ovation. "The air was electric," said conductor Jack Ergo. Recounting many of the great musicians who have performed at Carnegie in the past 100 years he said, "To be part of that family is an exceptional honor."

This was Ergo’s nineteenth year conducting the choir. He directed the 84^th annual performance in Independence, November 18, as well as the Carnegie Hall debut, November 24. Two hundred thirty-three choir members from states including Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, along with more than 200 friends and family, made the trip to New York where they were met by others from all over the country who came to see the concert.

The New England Symphonic Ensemble played, accompanied by RLDS principal organist Janet Kraybill on harpsichord, and Rebecca Browne, a native of Blue Springs and recent Julliard School graduate who now lives in New York, on violin. Soloists included: Christina Suh, soprano; Joyce Ottinger, mezzo-soprano; Charles Reid, tenor; and Jeffrey Ray, baritone. Visit www.CofChrist.org/messiah for biographies and historic information about Messiah.

Handel’s Messiah is performed every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving at the RLDS Auditorium. Come hear the 85^th annual production on November 17, 2001. The 1996 recording of the 80^th anniversary performance by the Independence Messiah Choir will be televised in the greater Kansas City area on December 24 and 25:

December 24:	2 p.m. KCPT (PBS) Channel 19 8 p.m. KMCI Channel 38
December 25:	1 a.m. Odyssey Channel (national cable station) Noon KSHB (NBC) Channel 41 Noon KMOS (Central Missouri PBS) Channel 6