Handel Messiah

Following their sell-out tour in 2023, Wild Arts brings their trademark fresh and innovative approach to Handel's legendary telling of the Christmas story to Chelmsford Cathedral for the first time.

The period specialist players of the Wild Arts Ensemble join the star singers of the summer opera tour for an innovative version that will bring the music and story to life. Staging will be performed by the company tailored to each venue from a framework devised by theatre and opera director Tom Morris (Breaking the Waves, Dr Semmelweis, War Horse), with Wild Arts' Artistic Director Orlando Jopling directing from the keyboard.

Lucy Hall & Natasha Page soprano
Catherine Backhouse & Martha Jones mezzo
Guy Elliott & Sam Marston tenor
Timothy Nelson baritone
Edward Hawkins bass

Sijie Chen & Magdalena Loth-Hill violin
Hannah Shaw viola
Reinoud Ford cello
Marianne Schofield bass
Oonagh Lee & Geoff Coates oboe
Chris Rawley bassoon
Brendan Musk & Sam Lewis trumpet
Tom Lee timpani
Orlando Jopling harpsichord

You are welcome to arrive from 6pm, and the performance will start at 7pm. The performance will last approx. 2 hours 30 minutes including interval

A bar in the North Transept will be open to serve pre-concert and interval drinks.

Band A £45 - Good views
Band B £38 - Further back
Band C £30 - may have restricted views
Band D £15 - may have restricted or obscured views
£15 for under 25s

Seats are unreserved and may be taken first come, first served within each price band.

To book tickets at £15 for under 25s, please email us at info@wildarts.org.uk.

The Cathedral is fully accessible and wheelchair spaces will be provided on request, with a free carer seat alongside. Please email us at info@wildarts.org.uk for any access or seating questions and we would be very happy to help.

Chelmsford Cathedral

Originally a parish church, the first recorded service dates back to 1223, and the earliest stonework discovered here is from Norman times. In the 15th Century, the church was rebuilt to include the tower, parapets and magnificent South porch. Due to feuding during the War of the Roses between the the Yorkist Bouchiers and the Lancastrian de Veres who were funding the rebuilding, it took nearly a century to complete.

However, as you look at the exterior of the Cathedral from the South side, not all of what you see dates back to medieval times. In 1800 workmen digging to open a vault, undermined the building and the whole roof, north and south aisles collapsed. So the central area, paler in colour than the medieval west end, is made of Coade stone. Coade stone was often called artificial stone but is in fact a high quality and extremely weatherproof stone. It has also been used in St George’s Chapel in Windsor.

On the north side of the Cathedral, the vestry block whilst looking medieval with its flint wall exterior, is in fact twentieth century. The attention given to matching the exterior makes it difficult to tell the age of the building by sight alone. Another twentieth century addition which is perhaps easier to spot is the carving of St Peter. St Peter faces Bradwell, where St Cedd originally landed in the seventh century having left Lindisfarne on a mission to bring Christianity to the East Coast and founded the chapel which still stands today.

How can we tell that this is a modern carving? St Peter holds a Yale key.