July 17, 2003
Simon Carrington Will Conduct
87th Annual
Messiah
Community of Christ is pleased to announce that Simon Carrington will
be the guest conductor for the 87th annual performance of Handel’s
Messiah in Independence. The 300-voice Independence Messiah Choir and the
Messiah Festival Orchestra will perform this inspiring oratorio under
Carrington’s direction on Saturday, November 22, at 8:00 p.m. in the Community
of Christ Auditorium.
Carrington was recently appointed professor of music at the Yale Institute of
Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music, where he will direct a new chamber
choir for performance, touring, and recording, as well as serve as professor of
choral conducting beginning in September. He is currently director of choral
activities at New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1994 to
2001 he served as artist-in-residence and director of choral activities at the
University of Kansas. He also conducted the Kansas City Youth Symphony Chorus
during this time. Throughout Carrington’s conducting career, his choirs have
been featured on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, many CD
recordings, and highly successful concert tours.
Carrington was a founding member and co-director of the
internationally-acclaimed British ensemble The King’s Singers, performing with
them from 1968 to 1993. This 25-year career included more than 3,000 concerts,
62 recordings, and countless radio and television broadcasts, including eight
appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The group earned
many recording awards and received a Grammy nomination for Madrigal History
Tour (EMI Records) and a “Silver Disc” from the UK Recording Industry for
Out of the Blue (EMI Records).
As an active freelance conductor and choral clinician, Carrington is one of
the busier all-state choral conductors in the United States, and conducts, leads
choral institutes, and adjudicates festivals and competitions internationally.
During the early years of The King’s Singers, he enjoyed a successful career as
an orchestral musician, playing with most of London’s leading symphony and
chamber orchestras, including performances with the English Baroque Soloists and
the Monteverdi Orchestra.
Tickets for the Independence Messiah Choir’s 87th annual performance of
Handel’s Messiah will be available in September from Central Ticket
Office at (816) 235-6222. For more information, visit the Web site at www.CofChrist.org/messiah or call
the Messiah Festival Office at (816) 521-3051.
-Jane Gardner reporting
