Start your holidays with Handel’s Messiah and the people you love
For two hours, December slows down.
You’re in a pew next to someone you love. The church is full. A choir of [NUMBER] voices is singing music people have gathered to hear at the holidays for generations.
The holidays are about the people you spend them with, and this is a night of being fully with them. Your phone stays in your pocket. The list can wait. The same music lands on everyone in the room at the same time, and you feel it together.
It’s also the kind of night that turns into a tradition. You come once with your mom. The next December, she’s the one buying the tickets.
Handel wrote Messiah in about three weeks in 1741. At its first performance, in Dublin, part of the money went to free people from debtors’ prison. It’s been bringing people together ever since.
Here, it’s the Syracuse University Oratorio Society and the orchestra, with Ho-Yin Kwok conducting. Four soloists sing between the big choruses: soprano Rachel Schutz, mezzo-soprano Danan Tsan, tenor Seokho Park and baritone Marc Webster. And yes, the Hallelujah chorus is in it.
Bring your parents. Bring your grown kids. Bring the friend who hums the Hallelujah every year, asked or not. Dress up, get dinner first, and start the season together.
More December
- Saturday, Dec. 12: The Snowman (10:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.) and Christmas by Candlelight (7:00 p.m.), both at Inspiration Hall
- Dec. 19–20: Holiday Pops at the Crouse Hinds Theater
GOOD TO KNOW
Who’s it for? Anyone who wants a night with their people to start the holidays. You’ll recognize more of it than you think.
How long is it? About 2 hours and 10 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission.
Is it in English? Yes. Messiah is sung in English.
What should I wear? Holiday party clothes are perfect. It’s a good night to dress up.
When should I get there? Doors open at 6:30. Music starts at 7:30.
When do I clap? Messiah is made of lots of short pieces. Wait for the conductor to lower his arms and turn around. Someone else will go first.
Running late? You’ll be seated at the next break in the music.
PROGRAM
Messiah (Handel), with soprano Rachel Schutz, mezzo-soprano Danan Tsan, tenor Seokho Park, baritone Marc Webster and the Syracuse University Oratorio Society: Handel’s friend Charles Jennens pulled the words straight from the Bible. Handel set them in three parts: the Christmas story, then Easter, then what comes after. Listen for “For unto us a child is born,” where the choir’s voices pass the tune back and forth, then land together on “Wonderful, Counsellor.” The Hallelujah chorus closes the second part, with trumpets and timpani joining the choir.
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FEATURED ARTISTS
Hailed for her “diamantine high notes, witty characterization, and giddily delirious coloratura” (Boston Globe), Welsh-American soprano Rachel Schutz is known for her sensitive and evocative performances and wide range of repertoire. She enjoys a multi-faceted career which includes opera, concert, and recital performances, as well as research, ...
Hailed for her “diamantine high notes, witty characterization, and giddily delirious coloratura” (Boston Globe), Welsh-American soprano Rachel Schutz is known for her sensitive and evocative performances and wide range of repertoire. She enjoys a multi-faceted career which includes opera, concert, and recital performances, as well as research, publication, and teaching.
In recent seasons Ms. Schutz won first place in both the 44th NATS Artist Award Competition and the Pro Musicis Competition. She also gave her solo debut recital at Weill Hall and a world premier with the Orchestra NOW at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Stanford’s Bing Hall, appeared in concert with Xak Bjerken on the Oneonta Concert Society series, sang Viardot’s Cendrillon and Scalia/Ginsburg with Opera Ithaca and Glass’s Les enfantss terrible with Opera Parallèle, was featured on WQXR’s “Young Artist Showcase, and appeared at numerous festivals including Cornell’s Mayfest, the Mostly Modern Festival, and Yellow Barn.
Ms. Schutz has been praised for her “vibrant, convincing stage presence” (San Francisco Examiner) and “vivacious spirit” (San Francisco Chronicle) on the opera stage. Her recent opera roles have included Lise in Glass’s Les enfants terribles, Thérèse in Les mamelles de Tirésias and Jessie in Mahagonny Songspiel with Opera Parallèle; Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Johanna in Sweeney Todd and Diana in Dove’s Siren Song with Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre; Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Adele in Die Fledermaus and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Stockton Opera; Maguelonne in Viardot’s Cendrillon with Opera Ithaca; and Giannetta in L’elisir d’amore with the Santa Fe Opera. Other roles have included Musetta in La Bohème, Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Euridice in Orpheus ed Euridice, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Rose in A Street Scene, Gloria in Handel’s O come chiare e belle, First Maid in Daphne, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and St. Settlement in Four Saints in Three Acts.
Equally at home in concert repertoire, she has performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre with the Stony Brook Symphony, Imbrie’s Adam with the Riverside Symphony, Hayes’s Spirit Suite with DCINY, has toured the Northeast with the Boston Pops Orchestra, singing, most notably, Bernstein’s “Glitter and be gay,” and recently gave the premier of Zhou Long’s Men of Iron and the Golden Spike with the Orchestra NOW.
A seasoned recitalist known for her “communicative zest” (Boston Globe), Ms. Schutz has been invited to perform at prestigious venues around the world including Carnegie Hall’s Stern, Zankel, and Weill Halls; the Ravinia, Ojai, Yellow Barn, Tanglewood, and Mostly Modern Festivals; the NATS National Conference; concert series around the country including the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Honolulu Chamber Music Series, the Hawaiʻi Concert Society, the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and the Oneonta Concert Society; and in venues around China, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and Germany. Ms. Schutz has performed with famed artists such as Dawn Upshaw, James Levine, James Conlon, JoAnne Faletta, Keith Lockhart, Leon Botstein, Gilbert Kalish, William Sharp, and Martin Katz.
Ms. Schutz is also a passionate supporter of new music and enjoys close working relationships with many young composers and new music ensembles. She has premiered dozens of new works, including pieces by Eugene Drucker (of the Emerson String Quartet), Sally Lamb McCune, Jeff Myers, Michael-Thomas Fumai, Jeff Myers, Thomas Osborne, Zhou Long, and Peter Winkler, and has worked with composers Phillip Glass, George Crumb, Jonathan Dove, William Bolcom, Will Healy, Libby Larsen, John Musto, Brett Dean, and Augusta Read-Thomas on their music.
In addition to winning the NATSAA competition, Ms. Schutz won third prize at the 2016 Jensen Foundation competition, was a finalist in the 2016 Hans Gabor Belvedere competition, and was the recipient of the 2012 Sorel Fellowship. She has been featured on New York City’s WQXR singing Rachmaninoff and Welsh art song, Hawaiʻi’s 88.1 KHPR, and Chicago’s WFMT, and can be heard singing the vocal works of Jeff Myers on the album “Dark Imagining” with the Bright Shiny Things label, Thomas Osborne’s Rumi Songs on “Elements,” an Albany Records album of contemporary American music, and Cone’s “Silent Noon” on an Ebb & Flow Ensemble recording of Cone’s chamber music.
Beyond her performing career, Ms. Schutz is an active scholar and dedicated teacher. Her book Welsh Vocal Music: A Guide to Lyric Diction and Repertoire was published by Routledge in April 2025. The book introduces audiences to the vast vocal repertoire of Wales and provides readers with the tools to accurately and confidently sing in the Welsh language. Previously, she published two articles on Welsh diction and art song repertoire in the prestigious Journal of Singing, and co-authored a book chapter on perceptions of linguistic style in a 2021 book for Cambridge University Press. Ms. Schutz has been an Associate Professor of Voice at Ithaca College since 2018.
After making her professional debut at age 12 premiering John Hardy’s The Roswell Incident with Music Theatre Wales, Ms. Schutz began studying with Mark Gruett of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. She holds a BA in Music from Stony Brook University, received her MM degree from the Dawn Upshaw-run Vocal Arts Program at Bard College, completed an MA in Linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and in 2016 received her DMA from Stony Brook University.
Danan Tsan is an award winning singer/songwriter based in Central New York. Danan has been entertaining audiences with her combination of sassy, introspective, thoughtful, funny, and even Christmas-themed originals all over America for more than 10 years. After completing graduate school at the Eastman School of Music as a ...
Danan Tsan is an award winning singer/songwriter based in Central New York. Danan has been entertaining audiences with her combination of sassy, introspective, thoughtful, funny, and even Christmas-themed originals all over America for more than 10 years. After completing graduate school at the Eastman School of Music as a mezzo-soprano Danan took the logical next step: she joined the United States Army. After surviving basic training, Danan was assigned to the U.S. Army Field Band and joined the Soldiers’ Chorus, later becoming lead singer for the same unit’s rock band, The Volunteers. Danan toured for 5 years with these groups, including a memorable trip to Barrow, Alaska, a solo feature with the London Symphony Orchestra, and many features with The Chicago Pops, The Naples (FL) Pops, and The Cincinnati Pops. During the same time, Danan joined the Baltimore ska-punk band, 23 Skadoo, as lead vocalist. She also provided lead vocals for a new age album by Annapolis based songwriter James Durham, Aeolian May.
In 2005, Danan moved to Brooklyn and quickly became hooked into New York City’s thriving rock scene, recording her debut EP, You Need More Love. In 2007, her first full-length album, The Other Side, was named one of the top 25 albums by Indie Music.com and many of her tracks are currently in rotation on internet, satellite, and college radio stations. Some highlights of her solo performing career include showcases at SXSW 2007 and The Dewey Beach Music Festival 2007, The Knitting Factory in NYC (opening for The Skatalites), and a tour of Central New York to promote her 2007 holiday album, Christmas Time Rocks.
Danan recorded I Am in 2008. She also relocated from NYC to Syracuse to be closer to family as she and her husband started their family. Since then, Danan has performed her rock tunes at the Music and Arts Over Syracuse Festival, the Boilermaker Expo in Utica, and the C&G Music Singer/Songwriter Showdown II in Baldwinsville, winning first place. Danan has also gotten involved in the local theater and opera scene. She joined the roster for the Syracuse Opera chorus, appearing most recently in The Mikado in fall 2010 and in Don Giovanni and The Pearl Fishers in the winter/spring of 2011, and set to perform the lead role, Aldonza, in the Opera’s upcoming free summer performance of Man of La Mancha. Danan had a starring role as Philia in Appleseed Production’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” in 2009, for which she was awarded “Best Vocal Performance” by the Theatre Association of New York State and earned a flattering review in the New Times. Most recently, Danan starred as the Witch in Not Another Theater Company’s production of Into the Woods, for which she again was reviewed kindly by the Syracuse New Times.
Assistant Professor of Voice at University of Missouri-Kansas City, Tenor Seokho Park, who was awarded the “Super Rookie award” from the 15th Korea Opera Awards, has recently performed leading roles in various operas including La bohème, L’elisir d’amore, Rigoletto, L’incoronazione di Poppea, La tragé...
Assistant Professor of Voice at University of Missouri-Kansas City, Tenor Seokho Park, who was awarded the “Super Rookie award” from the 15th Korea Opera Awards, has recently performed leading roles in various operas including La bohème, L’elisir d’amore, Rigoletto, L’incoronazione di Poppea, La tragédie de Carmen, La traviata, Così fan tutte, L’heure Espagnole, The magic flute, Cavalleria rusticana, Les contes d’Hoffmann, and Falstaff.
Mr. Park earned his BA degree at the Korea National University of Arts and his master’s degree at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he began his opera career as a cooperative singer at the Tri-Cities Opera. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A) degree at the University of Minnesota for diverse musical experiences and academic pursuits.
Additionally, Mr. Park completed the “performance and literature” program (M.M degree) with the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy (COAA) and the Accademia Europea Dell’Opera (AEDO) program at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
He has won several awards, including the Best Opera Singer award at the NOMEA competition, the Opera Role award at the MIOpera competition, 2nd place at the Eastern region NATS competition, and 1st place at the Eastern district NATS competition, as well as participated in the Glimmerglass Festival Young Artists Program and the Canadian Opera Company Summer Intensive Program.
Dr. Park has given recent masterclasses at Southwest Baptist University and Texas A&M International University, and has joined the faculty of Songe d’été en musique in Québec, Canada.
Marc Webster is a singer, teacher, and artistic mentor whose work bridges professional performance, vocal pedagogy, and the training of emerging singers. As Associate Professor of Voice at Ithaca College, he maintains an active career in opera, musical theater, concert and oratorio performance, recital, guest teaching, adjudication, and professional ...
Marc Webster is a singer, teacher, and artistic mentor whose work bridges professional performance, vocal pedagogy, and the training of emerging singers. As Associate Professor of Voice at Ithaca College, he maintains an active career in opera, musical theater, concert and oratorio performance, recital, guest teaching, adjudication, and professional leadership while integrating professional artistic practice with undergraduate training through collaborative projects, guest artist residencies, and performance opportunities beyond the traditional classroom and studio.
A member of the voice faculty in Ithaca College’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance for more than fifteen years, Webster’s teaching emphasizes healthy, expressive, and technically grounded singing across a wide range of repertoire and career paths. Working collaboratively with colleagues across voice, opera, musical theatre, diction, coaching, conducting, and stage direction, he helps guide students in the development of vocal technique, musicianship, storytelling, stylistic awareness, and professional preparation within a supportive and interdisciplinary training environment.
Students who have studied singing with Marc can currently or recently be heard on Broadway in productions including The Lost Boys, Tommy, Sweeney Todd, Hadestown, MJ the Musical, A Beautiful Noise, Spring Awakening, Gypsy, and The Book of Mormon. Recent students have also gone on to graduate study at institutions including the Eastman School of Music, New England Conservatory, Rice University, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), Indiana University, San Francisco Conservatory, and Peabody Conservatory.
Webster’s professional training includes residencies at the Juilliard Opera Center, the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, as a Filene Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, Seattle Opera Studio, and Florida Grand Opera Studio, experiences that continue to inform both his artistic and teaching practices.
Recent operatic activity includes an ongoing relationship with the Glimmerglass Festival, where Marc performed during the 2025 season in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, the latter receiving the 2025 International Opera Award for Musical Theatre. His collaborations with Glimmerglass have also included developmental workshops and performances connected to contemporary operatic repertoire and new works in development.
Alongside this work, Marc has maintained an active regional operatic presence through ongoing engagements with companies throughout New York State, including recurring collaborations with Tri-Cities Opera in principal roles in Gianni Schicchi and La traviata, with upcoming appearances in Così fan tutte and La bohème, as well as performances with Syracuse Opera, Opera Ithaca, and Mercury Opera Rochester.
Concert and oratorio performance are another significant part of Marc’s artistic activity. He has appeared as a bass soloist with New York State Baroque, the Defiant Requiem Project, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Syracuse Orchestra, in addition to ongoing collaborations with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. This work has included both standard and contemporary repertoire, interdisciplinary collaborations, and recordings, including Arias for Trumpet and Voice with the International Trumpet Guild and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for Harmonia Mundi.
An active recitalist and collaborative artist, Marc has appeared with Sparks & Wiry Cries in collaboration with Oxford Lieder, the Cincinnati Song Initiative, and the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar’s Repertoire Development for Teaching Professionals program, in addition to invited residencies and performances throughout the United States and abroad. Earlier in his career, he performed regularly with New York Festival of Song under Steven Blier and participated in The Song Continues at Carnegie Hall with Marilyn Horne, experiences that continue to inform his collaborative work in recital and vocal chamber music.
Marc’s professional activity also includes guest artist teaching, adjudication, invited residencies, and collaborative educational work with singers, collaborative pianists, and faculty colleagues across collegiate, festival, and pre-professional training environments in both national and international settings. International engagements have included teaching and collaborative work in Ireland, Canada, Italy, and South Korea, including an upcoming appointment this summer with the BLAS International Summer School at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick; ongoing work with Songe d’été en musique in Québec, Canada, where he served as Interim Co-Director of the Vocal Studio in 2024; and continued collaboration with Si Parla, Si Canta in Arona, Italy. His work has also included teaching and adjudication through CS Music in Seoul, South Korea, hosted by Ewha Womans University, and adjudication for the McCammon International Voice Competition at Fort Worth Opera, several of which have led to continuing collaborations and return engagements.
Nationally, Marc has presented extended guest artist residencies featuring recital performances, masterclasses, classroom teaching, and individual coachings at Colorado State University, Cedarville University, Sam Houston State University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and the University of Texas at Brownsville. Additional invited collegiate masterclasses and residencies have included work with singers and collaborative pianists at Boston University, DePaul University, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Wake Forest University, and Pacific Lutheran University. He also remains active with the Classical Singer organization as a masterclass clinician, adjudicator, and faculty representative at national conventions.
An important aspect of Marc’s work is the integration of professional artistic activity with student learning through mentorship and collaborative performance opportunities. As a professional section leader with Albany Pro Musica in collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Marc has helped connect Ithaca College students with opportunities to participate in large-scale professional rehearsal and performance settings. Similar collaborations have integrated Ithaca College and Cornell University students into concert, opera, chamber, and interdisciplinary performances connected to Marc’s professional and institutional work, as well as productions and workshop performances with Tri-Cities Opera, Opera Ithaca, and the Glimmerglass Festival.
In addition to his teaching and artistic work, Marc maintains an active record of institutional and professional leadership. At Ithaca College, he serves as Voice Area Coordinator, providing leadership for a large and collaborative voice area through curriculum development, admissions and recruitment initiatives, faculty coordination, guest artist engagement, and long-range program planning. His work has included curricular revision and redesign efforts, coordination of auditions, juries, recital processes, and area retreats, and participation in faculty governance, assessment, search committees, and program development within the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and the broader college community.
Marc has also remained active in institutional service through work on the All-College Faculty Council, Academic Policies Committee, Faculty and Staff Benefits Committee, Faculty Development Council, and Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Belonging initiatives, alongside ongoing involvement in faculty evaluation, mentorship, conference hosting, recruitment initiatives, and the coordination of guest artist residencies and masterclasses.
Professionally, Marc serves as President of the Upstate New York District of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), following prior service as Vice President of the Central New York–Finger Lakes Chapter. His professional service includes longstanding work as an adjudicator, conference organizer, and creator of professional development initiatives for voice teachers focused on lyric diction, inclusive pedagogy, contemporary commercial music, vocal jazz pedagogy, and repertoire development.
Webster holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and Master of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music and an Artist Diploma in Opera Performance from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers include Carol Webber, Robert C. White, and David Parks.
A proud graduate of Ithaca College’s Bachelor of Music programs in Vocal Performance and Music Education, Webster is honored to mentor the next generation of singers at his alma mater through a teaching practice grounded in artistry, curiosity, collaboration, and the belief that music possesses a unique ability to connect, communicate, and inspire.
Founded in 1975, the Syracuse University Oratorio Society is a large chorus comprised of Syracuse University students and community members that regularly performs choral-orchestral masterworks with the Syracuse Orchestra. The Oratorio Society is directed by Dr. Wendy Moy.
Founded in 1975, the Syracuse University Oratorio Society is a large chorus comprised of Syracuse University students and community members that regularly performs choral-orchestral masterworks with the Syracuse Orchestra. The Oratorio Society is directed by Dr. Wendy Moy.
