New Handel's Messiah brings together eclectic group of singers

BROWNSVILLE - The tenor voices escalated toward the ceiling then plunged toward the floor, as crystalline notes spilled from the piano.

Tenor George Flores, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, stood with his music in front of him.

The section leader, poking the air as his arm rose and fell, snapped his fingers like a metronome.

Flores and the other tenors were practicing their part for Handel's "Messiah," which they will perform Dec. 14 at the Jacob Brown Auditorium. About 200 singers from the Brownsville Independent School District, the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, and the rest of the community are meeting each Monday evening to prepare. Each section met separately on a recent day to work on their parts. The tenors energetically wove their respective talents into the notes and lyrics.

"And He shall reign for ever and ever," they sang. "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"

"Try backing off the ‘Yah'," section leader David Gonzalez said.

Flores and Gonzalez are just two of the many people working to bring the celebrated piece of music back to Brownsville after a four-year hiatus.

"It's fabulous," said the 20-year-old Flores, a music major at UTB-TSC. "It's a very historic work and it's very famous everywhere you go. It's a great thing to learn this, a really important work in music history, and it's being revived in Brownsville."

Other participants said they hoped the tradition would continue in Brownsville. Bertha Betancourt, a 21-year-old soprano soloist in this year's production, had performed in the "Messiah" before it was discontinued. She hopes the show becomes a yearly event again.

The most difficult part of her performance is having to articulate each individual note in rapid succession, she said; but the best part of her experience is "working with all different kinds of singers, young singers, really mature singers."

Singers crowded together an hour later when the sections met in another hall.

"Welcome to the rehearsal of the 'Messiah,'" exclaimed Amy Brownlow, director and vocal coordinator of the Bravo Opera Company. Many of Brownlow's students, including Flores and Betancourt, have become part of the "Messiah" experience. As singers gathered on the risers, there was an electrifying clatter of voices.

"All of you are here as a blessing to my heart," exclaimed Brownlow. "I have been working to revive the "Messiah" as a tradition that began ... " She paused. "Does anybody know when it started?"

Nobody knew.

"1957!" she said.

George Ramirez, president of the Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts, congratulated the singers who had gathered.

"I didn't know so many people could sing in Brownsville," said Ramirez, who helped leverage the funds for the production. "Leave it to Mr. (Dennis) Pitcock to find you all. This is going to be a very elegant event."

Pitcock, the choir conductor, earlier had expressed admiration for the eclectic group of singers.

"I am sure some of these adults are in their 60s and 70s. They look Winter Texan," said Pitcock, head of the choral department of the Brownsville Independent School District.

"They are doing great," he said. "It's a difficult, intricate, major work, so it takes some time. There's an energy in the room."

Gonzalez remembered working with the "Messiah" production in Brownsville in previous years.

"When I conducted before, it was solely a BISD exercise," he said. "There were a few community members. I think this collection is good for the community, for the university, good for everybody."

Bob Buchanan, who conducted the chorus of the "Messiah" in Brownsville for about 30 years, remembered how it all began.

"It happened that the North Texas State College choir came to Brownsville on tour," he said. "And the next day, the director of the high school choir, C.C. Norris at the time, got the North Texas choir and the Methodist Church choir to sing parts of Handel's "Messiah.'"

Buchanan doesn't remember what happened next, but by 1960 he had become director of the high school choir and began a yearly performance of the "Messiah." He's glad to see the production coming back.

"I think it's wonderful," he said. "People get a lot out of it. It's sort of a tradition."

Travis Whitehead is a regional features writer for Valley Freedom Newspapers based at The Brownsville Herald. To reach him, email twhitehead@brownsvilleherald.com.