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Multicultural 'Messiah' making
its mark in Cache Valley
• Performances
to be Friday, Saturday at Ellen Eccles Theater
March 20, 2007 | "Breaking the sound barrier" has an
entirely different meaning for Utah State University
audiology students and Cache Valley musicians. Flying
into its sixth annual performance, the community production
of Handel's Messiah is becoming a tradition
that transcends language, hearing and religious barriers.
"When this program first started, people didn't envision
it so much as more than just a sing-a-long. But this
has become more than just a community coming together.
This really is a choir that could rival any professional
group in singing such difficult and magnificent music,
" said participant Richard Justise.
While this year's Easter program offers more new voices
than ever, returning participants of past performances
helped consolidate a mixture of talent and experience
to launch a first rehearsal that surprised even the
conductor and founder of the event, Dr. John Ribera
of the USU department of communicative disorders. Another
participant, Marilynne Wright, proudly demonstrated
a score marked by three generations of singers.
"This music is glorious," she said. "We all get an
amazing feeling while singing. There is no other music
that expresses sentiments of the Messiah so
well."
Accompanied by an orchestra and the unique addition
of Utah's Theatrical Interpreters for the Deaf, this
rendition of the classic masterpiece also offers a Hispanic
flavor. Some of the music is sung in Spanish, and all
proceeds of the performance are used for humanitarian
aid mission expenses to Baja, Mexico. For three years
now members of the USU National Association of Future
Doctors of Audiology have spent a week across the border
in association with Mexican Medical Ministries, testing
school children and people who travel at great lengths
to get their hearing checked.
"There have been people in the waiting room for four
or five hours without complaining, just to be seen by
a member of the staff," Ribera said.
In the meantime, clown balloons shaped into animals
were used to entertain the children.
NAFDA student Spencer Cheshire recalls an experience
in which one woman, after being outfitted with a hearing
aid, "was twisting her hair back and forth between her
fingers next to her ear. As I looked at her face I noticed
the tears in her eyes as she whispered, ‘I can hear
my hair, I can hear my hair. Gracias, Dios les bendiga!'"
While the multicultural Messiah concert is
used to raise money for the project, last year the program
didn't cut theater costs for the Ogden performance,
but was granted pardon. NAFDA students ended up paying
additional hundreds of dollars out of pocket to pursue
the trip. This year, Thrivant Financial for Lutherans
offered to match up to $1300 in profit. Greatly appreciated
and needed, Ribera hopes the concert continues to thrive.
"I plan on doing this until I'm too old and decrepit,
" Ribera said. "My intent was to get people of various
faiths and backgrounds together. Why should it stop
just because the person waving the wand had to leave
. . . the quality every year keeps getting better and
better. There are professionals who do this on a volunteer
basis, and have really pulled the volunteer and community
aspect together. "
Other soloists for this years performance include
Cory Evans, director of choral activities at Utah State;
Harold Heap, organist and choirmaster of St. John's
Episcopal Church in Logan; and Dana Slabaugh.
March 23, 24: Handel's Messiah, a multi-cultural
benefit concert at the Ellen Eccles Theater. Cost: $5,
$8, and $10 at the Cache Valley Center for the Arts
Ticket Office. (Not recommended for children under the
age of 8).
https://www.centerforthearts.us/directory.html
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