Utah Arts Review – Female soloists and chorus provide the highlights in Utah Symphony’s “Messiah”

by Rick Mortensen

After a year off due to the pandemic, the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera began with a reminder by conductor Conner Gray Covington that to avoid spreading Covid, this year’s performance would not be a “singalong” as it in years past.

Judging by the smattering of scores in the hands of patrons—about a third of whom were masked—in the nearly full Abravanel Hall, there were a few who either hadn’t heard that message or were planning to instigate a seasonal flash mob. While a few audience members did make half-hearted attempts to sing their parts during the “Hallelujah” chorus, the vast majority of the fully vaccinated crowd obeyed the conductor’s request.

Read on at utahartsreview.com