‘I must have been born sacrilegious because I love this!’: Marin Alsop on reimagining Handel’s Messiah

When conductor Marin Alsop teamed up with arrangers Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson to update Handel’s Messiah with gospel, jazz and R&B influences, they could not have predicted the momentum that the project would gain. From hundreds-strong performances across the US to an upcoming European premiere at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the reimagined work shows a new side to the festive favourite, helping to break down barriers to classical music and attract new audiences and performers. I met with Alsop at the Royal Albert Hall to find out more about the project’s roots and hear how this exciting reinterpretation of Handel’s enduring oratorio continues to enjoy enduring popularity.

'Handel would have been very pleased that his music evolved, that it wasn't preserved as a museum piece' (Image courtesy of the Royal Albert Hall)

Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah! premiered in New York City in December 1993. Why do you think this work is still much-loved and widely performed almost exactly three decades later?

That's a really amazing statistic. Of course, Handel’s original Messiah has endured for hundreds of years and in creating Too Hot to Handel we tried to preserve the DNA of the piece. So, while it’s an updated version, it still has that fundamental integrity which is so incredibly strong. That combination is key: people can come and hear something that feels like it was written today, but it has this quality of genius in it.

Did you have any reservations about making adjustments to Handel’s historic work?

I think I must have been born sacrilegious because I love doing this kind of thing! In Handel's time of course, lots of his music would have been ornamented, improvised or added to – that was part of the performing culture of the time. Mozart even did his own version of Handel's Messiah so the idea of updating or adding to it is not unheard of. I think Handel would have really enjoyed introducing these contemporary components – as in the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ which at its heart is just a rip-roaring gospel number, that's just the way it is. He would have been very pleased that his music evolved, that it wasn't preserved as a museum piece, but adapted to become part of our vernacular of today. Some people are purists, and they want their music exactly the way they've always heard it. This is not for them, for sure.

I was trained at Juilliard as a violinist, but I also had a swing band. I think having a foot in both worlds led to this. Music that isn't rigidly tied to the page, that you can improvise and add your own touches to is an incredibly satisfying experience for audience members because they get to know, not just the piece of music, but the artists themselves.

In the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s webumentary about this project you said: ‘If you’re really pretty religious about your Handel Messiah in its original form, maybe don’t come to this.’ How do you strike the balance between attracting new audiences to classical music and potentially alienating the audience the genre already has?

I think people can enjoy both presentations. People will always perform the piece in its original form and of course, around Christmas-time, you can find a performance of the Messiah around every other corner. But I think audiences, especially those which are knowledgeable about the piece, will appreciate the fact that the structure, text and integrity of each number has been preserved, even if the feel of it has been changed up.

What is it about Handel’s original oratorio that lends itself to this fusion with R&B, jazz and gospel?

I think music of this period, particularly baroque music, really swings. It has a dance quality to it because its motivated by the baseline, and it shares a lot of qualities that can be found in contemporary pop music.

When I started thinking about the Messiah, I of course started with the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’, which is clearly a gospel number. Bob, Gary and I would sit and talk about each number and work out what form it needed to take. Once Gary started talking about ‘All we like sheep’, for example, it turned into a shuffle and another movement needed to be a jazz waltz. The music was speaking to us, saying, ‘This is what I could be.’

It was challenging, and of course my friends thought I was crazy. But they jumped into it, they divided up the pieces and chose the ones they wanted to arrange and amazingly, it all hangs together. Their arrangements are very different from each other, but they complement each other.

In the promotional video for this upcoming performance, you’re clapping along from the conductor’s podium. How does the feeling of conducting this piece differ from your more ‘ordinary’ classical music conducting engagements?

There are so many constrictions for audiences in classical music that make me crazy because they're only really affect, they're not part of the history of classical music. During Beethoven's time people would shout out and clap – that was sort of de rigueur, everybody did that. So this idea that you're not allowed to clap, especially between movements, you're not allowed to shout or express, is something that's been imposed on classical music. With the Gospel Messiah, we're able to get back to this idea of audience participation, and that, to me, is where classical music really excels. If you’re coming to the performance, wear your dancing shoes, because you'll probably be up and dancing!

On the Too Hot to Handel website choirs are encouraged to try the work to ‘Take the enigma out of the classical music experience!’ What role do you feel genre fusion of this kind plays in increasing the accessibility of classical music and establishing sustainable audiences for the genre?

I approve of anything we can do that breaks down the barriers for people. In 2010 I partnered with Carnegie Hall and we did a huge project involving around 400 high school kids singing Too Hot to Handel. We laid down tracks for each part so that every singer had something to practice with, even if they didn't read music. A lot of gospel choirs don't read music, it’s all tradition, so for some people that’s the barrier to accessing these works. So we wanted to make it accessible and I think that's been an incredible tool for groups to use. The feedback that I've heard from all over the world is that performing Too Hot to Handel really has been an incredible, communal, transformative experience for people.

'I think I must have been born sacrilegious because I love doing this kind of thing!' © Adriane White

You’re set to close the Proms for a third time on Saturday, a decade on from your groundbreaking performance as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms in 2013. You also founded the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship (recently renamed the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship) aimed at supporting women conductors entering the profession – do you think you’ll ever stop needing to be a trailblazer for women in your field?

The situation in the industry is much better, but I think now's the moment when we have to press forward even more and be more vigilant because, now that the door is open a little, everyone says, ‘OK, that's enough’. That's what always happens with women, we're told, ‘just be happy that you got that’, but there's still a lot of work to do. Until we have a world that is motivated by equal representation – and I don't just mean gender – these women need each other and their community is very important.

People often ask me, ‘We have many more women on the podium, so why do you need this fellowship?’ But it's much more than just a fellowship, it's about creating a community for women, a support system, a resource, a way of connecting women worldwide who are conductors and who have had similar experiences and need advice from each other. We have annual conferences for all the Taki Alsop conductors and seeing them together is the most inspiring and transformational experience I’ve ever had. It's an important project because it is building solidarity. Conducting is a very lonely existence, and it's very important to have a community that you can go to for resources and support.

As a conductor, you spend the majority of your work week interpreting composers’ written music – what is your advice for conductors who want to step outside this definition and bring new projects to fruition?

I think all conductors should think outside the box. Our responsibility is not just to be a messenger for the composer and preserve the Canon but, especially today where we're looking toward less represented voices, to try to open up the concert hall to people who haven't been represented on the stage or in the audience. When you take ownership of that and become a living and vital participant in that process, you can develop a better understanding of our goals as conductors.

Alsop will lead the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and London Adventist Chorale in the Gospel Messiah on 7 December at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets for the performance, which will also feature South African tenor Zwakele Tshabalala and British soul singer Vanessa Haynes, can be found here.​​​