Yes! We perform this inspiring music for free as a service to the community. We desire that everyone in the San Antonio community have the opportunity to listen to this inspiring and beautiful music about our Savior, Jesus Christ.
The entire performance is approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes in length. Each performance begins with a brief opening act performed by a Youth Choir and a Children's Choir performing three short Christmas pieces. Following, the San Antonio Messiah Choir, Orchestra, and Soloists will present approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes of pieces from Handel's Messiah.
A large parking lot is available onsite; however, sometimes the parking lot reaches capacity. If this occurs, parking lot attendants will direct cars to the nearby UTSA school parking lot on Valero Way (if available). If the school parking lot is unavailable, then guests may park along Valero Way at their own discretion. Handicapped parking, with a wheelchair ramp, is available on the west side of the building, adjacent to the larger parking lot.
We encourage Sunday Dress or Business Casual, but no dress code is mandated. Since the performances are being held in a church, we encourage modest attire.
Yes, children are allowed to attend. If your child is being noisy or distracting, however, please take your child to the provided Children's Rooms at the back of the building so other audience members may enjoy the performance. These rooms are unsupervised so please stay with your children at all times.
A Quieter Children's Room is available, in the Relief Society room, for those who desire to hear the performances but whose children are being a little noisy or just need to move around. Parents, please keep your talking to a minimum in this room to allow others to listen to the performance.
A Louder Children's Room is also available, in the Primary room, for chlidren who may be too loud to allow others to hear the performance and for parents who wish to converse.
The Children's rooms will have audio and usually video available, so you can enjoy the performance while allowing your children to get out their wiggles and use their voices. These rooms do not contain toys or entertainment but are simply large rooms.
No. The entire performance is only an 1 hour and 30 minutes long which does not warrant an intermission.
This is a traditional concert, not a sing-along. The participants rehearse for about 6 weeks in preparation for the concert and they sound phenomenal!
Seating is first come, first served. The front chairs are padded. For those chairs not padded, we have a large number of seat cushions that will be placed on the remaining chairs.
There will be seating for about a thousand guests at each performance. Please do not arrive more than 1 1/2 hours before a concert to save seats. We do not anticipate running out of seating, although that's always a possibility. For those who sit in the back, you will also be able to see the choir and orchestra via the lowered projection screens in the back.
There are two rows reserved for handicapped or disabled patrons; please see the bulleted question below for more details. There are also a few rows reserved for guests of the organizers of the event since they spend hundreds of hours volunteering their time to organize such a wonderful concert for the community of San Antonio. We ask that patrons please be courteous and respect any reserved seating signs.
Yes, we have two rows of handicapped and disabled seating reserved, each with soft, padded chairs. Seating is first come, first served for these seating areas, so arriving early is recommended. Accompanying guests may sit with their handicapped or disabled patrons, but please limit the number of accompanying guests.
If you have a large group attending from an elderly community or group home, we welcome you and your group! We do not reserve group seats ahead of time, other than the two rows previously mentioned, so feel free to arrive early and save seats for your group. Ushers will also be available to help seat your group together. Rows can be taken out or altered to fit the needs of your group.
Ushers should be stationed at the doors to allow late guests to enter between pieces. If an usher is not present, the music can be heard in the foyers, so please be respectful of the performers and other guests by only entering between pieces.
If you need to leave to use the restroom or for some other reason, please be respectful of the performers and other guests by only leaving and re-entering between pieces. If you have a noisy child, however, please take him or her immediately to a Children's Room instead of waiting for a piece to end.
The numbers vary from year to year, but we typically have 150-240 singers in the choir and 55-70 musicians in the orchestra.
The San Antonio Messiah is a community event hosted by a church. We typically have volunteer musicians from about 30 different religions/denominations and about 70 different congregations. We are grateful to be able to come together as a community to celebrate the life of Jesus Christ through music.
No, they are all volunteers who love performing beautiful music and worshipping Jesus Christ through music. But, they are absolutely amazing for a group of volunteers!
No, they are all volunteers who love Jesus Christ and good music and spend countless hours throughout the year organizing this production so that others may also feel the joy and spirit of Jesus Christ through the music of Handel's "Messiah." They do an amazing job and we are blessed to have so many wonderful volunteers who have the same goal in mind of spreading the love of Jesus Christ and who love producing this inspiring and beautiful music.
While traditionally there are only four soloists (one soprano soloist will sing all of the soprano solos, etc.), we want to give as many musicians in San Antonio, as possible, the opportunity to perform a solo. We therfore hold auditions each year and usually select between 8-10 soloists, depending on the length of the pieces being performed.
Since we're performing the Messiah at Christmastime, we aim to perform a significant portion of the pieces about Jesus Christ's birth with a few other pieces about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We typically select 8-10 choruses, 2 orchestral pieces, and between 8-10 solos (depending on length). The choruses we're performing this year are: And the Glory of the Lord, And He Shall Purify, O Thou That Tellest, For Unto Us a Child is Born, Glory to God, Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs, Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder, Since By Man Came Death, Hallelujah, and Worthy is the Lamb.
The performances are sponsored by The San Antonio Texas West Stake, which is a congregation within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Go to www.comeuntochrist.org to learn more about this church. Books, cards, and pamphlets about the church are also available for free in the main foyers. If you have any questions or want to know more about the church, you can talk to the conductor or any other members from the church.
If rehearsals are already well underway or over, we'd ask that you join the following year and enjoy attending one of our current performances.
If you would like to be added to our rehearsal e-mail list for either this year or next year, click the Contact tab at the top of this page and send us your name, contact information, and in which group you'd like to perform. If rehearsals are about to begin or have just begun, we'll send you a link to register to participate in this year's Messiah performances.
For adults ages 18+, there are no auditions for the Messiah choir and orchestra. Youth ages 16-17 may audition for the Messiah Choir and youth may audition for the Messiah orchestra, but should have considerable experience. There are also no auditions for the Children's Choir, ages 8-11, or for the Youth Choir, ages 12-18. The soloists are selected by audition only. We try to have all performance dates, rehearsal dates, and solo audition information posted before the summer, so please keep checking back for that information.