Handel: Messiah. Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (Jean-Sébastien Vallée, artistic director). Lauren Snouffer, soprano; Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano; Anthony León, tenor; Gerald Finley, bass-baritone. Michael Francis, conductor. At Roy Thomson Hall, Dec. 16, 2025. Repeats Dec. 17, 19, 20, 21; tickets here.
Handel’s Messiah returns every year to Roy Thomson Hall under the auspices of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, typically with distinguishing characteristics imported by a visiting conductor and a fresh slate of soloists.
The version heard on Dec. 16 under the baton of Michael Francis had all the basics. Possibly the repeat performances will occasion more of a hard-to-define quality I shall call Messiah magic.
The Choir
Central to the evening were the 169 choristers of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, most on stage risers. Balanced and precise as prepared by Jean-Sébastien Vallée, they responded faithfully to Francis’s dynamic and articulatory demands.
The already bracing difference between the grave and allegro sequences of Since By Man Came Death was redoubled with an unauthorized contrast of volume. As TSO music director Gustavo Gimeno points out in an introductory program essay, the Messiah maestro has something like carte blanche in the matter of expressive markings, Handel having left us very few.
Francis showed a preference for light textures and glancing rhythms. And He Shall Purify was appropriately nimble. Happily, there were no half measures for Hallelujah, which had its expected galvanizing effect. All but a handful in the crowd were on their feet. Presumably Francis had the idea of raising the house lights to encourage standing and confirm the status of this chorus as primus inter pares.
Not everything went as well. In some cases slow tempos conspired with a steady beat and détaché phrasing to create a feeling of stasis. There could be no doubt of the iambic pulse of Behold The Lamb Of God. The final Amen was orderly but left me wanting something more openly apocalyptic.
Soloists
Soloists were seated stage right and asked to walk to the centre as the prior number was winding down. This created a welcome touch of theatricality.
Susan Platts was the most impressive of the four. The British-born Canadian mezzo-soprano did not make a forceful sound but projected inner intensity. Even the breath breaks added to the expressive potency of He Was Despised.
Gerald Finley — by contrast Canadian-born and resident in Britain — was a noble bass-baritone, equal to both the range and authority embodied by The Trumpet Shall Sound. TSO principal Steven Woomert sounded gleaming in the title role.
Tenor Anthony León, described as American-born, Cuban and Colombian, made amends for an edgy tone with excellent diction. Like his colleagues, he ornamented amply. Lauren Snouffer was sweet and poised in I Know That My Redeemer Liveth. This American soprano also gave us If God Be For Us — an air that is often cut in the hustle to bring the post-Hallelujah Part 3 to a close. Associate concertmaster Matthew Hakkarainen supplied a refined violin obbligato. It would nice one of these years to hear the duet O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?
Orchestra
The orchestra numbered 38, although only a fraction of players were used for smaller-scaled solos. String sound, in keeping with contemporary dictates, was largely vibrato-free. Trumpets were in the organ loft for Glory To God.
Armed with a baton and using a score, Francis was firmly in control of the particulars. This British conductor, appearing for the fourth time with the TSO, knows his stuff. Judging by the positive response, the crowd could tell. There are four further performances.
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