Messiah for the Community
22nd April 2026
On Palm Sunday in St Michael's Church, Linlithgow, we put on a community performance of Handel's "Messiah". Over 150 performers participated in this joyous event and hundreds more packed into the church at the start of Holy Week to enjoy one of the greatest choral works of all time.Back in 2023 following a collaboration of musicians, including those from the Linlithgow Reed Band, the Linlithgow Ladies Choir, the Rugby Club Choir, St Michael's Church and the Linlithgow String Orchestra, performing "Zadok the Priest" to mark King Charles III's coronation, it was clear that there was an appetite to do more. What was also clear is that we belong to a community of talented performers and it was not difficult to enthuse them to rise to the challenge of a performance of "Messiah". It was also important to be mindful of those new to such a work and it was my intention to keep our performance to about an hour in length.
Handel's work has, of course, some fantastic moments (in Part 1) illustrating the birth of Christ, but its main focus is really on the Easter story and the profound meaning for mankind. Our performance included 6 great choruses (from Parts 2 and 3) and our soloists stepped out of the chorus line or the orchestra to deliver their individual contributions.
The success would not have been possible without the support and effort of our church events team and also the cooking team, led by Margaret Johnson, who provided a delightful tea between rehearsal and performance.
The performance was dedicated to Alison Hastie, former Director of Music at both St Michael's RC Church and the Parish Church, who died earlier this year. She made a profound contribution to the musical life of the Linlithgow community and our retiring collection was given, at the request of her husband Alan, to a charity close to Alison's heart, Médecins Sans Frontières. The magnificent total collected after the performance was £4234.88.
As conductor, I had the privilege of seeing the joy on the faces of our performers as they sang and played this great work and feel quite humbled by the enthusiastic comments from so many. Here are some of them (anonymised!):
Thank you for the stunning performance yesterday.What a wonderful community event bringing music groups together and making singing such fun !
Thank you for such a thrilling experience, I’ll remember participating in last night’s concert for a long time.
Well done for a truly memorable community event tonight! Amazing to have pulled together so many singers and musicians and to pull off a very creditable performance. What an incredible number of people came to hear us too. An amazing outreach in the community.
What a fantastic achievement! I hope you are proud as it was brilliant and I think exactly what you pictured it would be. My friends and family said it was fantastic and they really enjoyed it.
It was wonderful to be part of it. I think folk might be asking what will happen next year!
Absolutely Brilliant! Soloists and orchestra were superb. My neighbours were absolutely thrilled.
Wow... Congratulations to you and everyone concerned with tonight's Messiah performance. Very well done. Very enjoyable.
Congratulations on a superb and successful concert and thank you so much for including incompetent folk like me! It was a big thrill to be a part of it and I met some delightful people as well as old friends from Linlithgow.
I was at the concert in St Michael’s last night and wanted to write and say how much I enjoyed it. It was a magnificent performance. What an audience! Well done to all involved.
Wow! what a wonderful event last night. I wanted to express thanks to you and to the huge team you brought together for such a marvellous way to mark Palm Sunday.
I have often said that my favourite church events are those where extra chairs have to be put out - and there were Messrs Blake and Ratcliffe doing just that as St Michael's filled up!
The music was super and I also loved scanning the programme, spotting people from the other parts of the wider parish, from other organisations in the town and further afield. A good age range too.
To have the collection in aid of MSF was very fitting.
My son didn't want to come, but he did and stood behind the choir (we had run out of space in the nave) and was amazed. Now he wants to sing in a choir!
I just wanted to say a massive thank you for staging Handel's Messiah yesterday.
From never having sung in a choir 18 months ago, to performing Messiah in a packed St Michael's, was an amazing experience and a privilege. Managing to perform 90% of it competently was a tribute to your direction, the 10% I messed up is all on me!
Throughout the process your enthusiasm, positivity, patience and passion have been an inspiration, without you this undoubtedly would not have happened. I will never forget that even when we were terrible in rehearsal you always found something positive to say. If your aim was to encourage people to sing you have certainly succeeded with me, I will be seeking out more experiences and challenges.
Thanks again and know that your efforts are greatly appreciated.
Congratulations on a fantastic performance tonight by both singers and musicians. It all came together beautifully.
I can recall our conversation last year when you first mentioned the idea of performing extracts from the Messiah on Palm Sunday. I’m not sure I appreciated what an event it turned out to be!
Congratulations on last night’s performance. It was a super event and you must have been thrilled by the attendance - I have rarely seen the church so full of people.
Just to say - thank you for the opportunity to join the choir and sing 'Messiah' at St Michaels - and also to remember Alison Hastie.
Seeing and hearing.this splendid rendition of Messiah tonight meant a great deal to me. Thank you and your colleagues for putting this on. It's so good to hear this in St Michaels. and to see such a large community involvement..Very best wishes. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday Evening
What a joyous evening: The musical talent, The commitment from all taking part!
Do you know if there will be another evening like this?
Thank you for having the vision to organise Palm Sunday evening's " Messiah for the Community" and for making it happen as wonderfully as it did. People in the town have been talking about it all week and asking, " What's next?"
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My heartfelt thanks to all of our participants, especially the players (including guests) in the Linlithgow String Orchestra, our organist Dr John Wilmett, the brilliant Gina Baker playing (her own) harpsichord As suggested by the last comment, I hope to see you all again at the next event. There will be more!
