Well now, this looks like fun. Tafelmusik has launched a Sing-Along-Messiah video contest. They're inviting Handel enthusiasts to submit (by December 12) video clips of themselves performing Messiah excerpts. There will be prizes for Best Overall Performance, Best Group/Family, Best Soloist, and Most Creative. The best video clips will be posted online, and winners will be invited to appear on stage in Tafelmusik's Sing-Along Messiah at Massey Hall on December 20.
Personally, I think it would have been interesting to have another prize for Most Historically Inauthentic Performance – but I expect they'll get plenty would fall in that category, anyway.
According, to Ivars Taurins, director of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, the idea comes from a CBC radio contest for which he served as a judge, a few years ago. At that time, people were invited to submit their do-it-yourself Messiah audio recordings. Tafelmusik has updated this concept by adding a video component.
"We're looking for people to be creative and inspirational," he explains. "They can get the family together, sing a duet with a friend, or have the dog join in. It can be anything from a serious performance from a professional or amateur, or from a student or child, to something lighthearted."
I hope Tafelmusik's challenge results in some imaginative approaches to Handel's perennial favourite. And just so everyone who's tempted to enter the contest is well aware of how high the bar has already been set, here's a YouTube video clip of the Northwestern University Kazoo Choir's inimitable rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhlm232KRlQ
Colin Eatock, managing editor
