I'm back posting videos for 2021! I took a little break while I moved back to Boston to finish my Master's of Music degree at New England Conservatory. However, I will try hard to keep posting videos weekly for all of you, my viewers. I cannot thank you enough for your support of my music through this channel.
February is Black History Month. What do Handel's Messiah and Black History Month have to do with each other? I'm glad you asked! While watching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech again during MLK Day, I realized that both Dr. King and Handel spoke using the same prophecy passage taken from the book of Isaiah chapter 40. This was powerful to me as it was to Dr. King and Handel. Isaiah 40 is a promise to Israel from God that they are still His chosen people and that one day, every wrong will be made right, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed through Israel in the coming of the Messiah and "all flesh will see it together".
When Handel wrote and premiered Messiah, it had a modest reception from the critics. However, this did not stop the work from being popularized throughout Britain. Handel was invited to Ireland to perform his new oratorio for charity, raising money for people who had been imprisoned. As a result of the packed and popular performances, enough money was raised to release 142 indebted prisoners. When those who were jailed heard the oratorio's first words, "Comfort ye", they believed it. When Dr. King says those lines from "Ev'ry valley" in what is one of the greatest speeches in modern history, we all believe him. These words have been and will be used to set captives free, to spring up hope in the hopeless, and to unite people in the assurance that one day, every crooked thing will be made straight! Yes, every ounce of prejudice, hate, divisiveness, and wickedness will be made straight one day.
My wish is that these words continue to inspire future leaders and us to fight for hope, love, and justice.
Recorded at Loma Linda University Church for the annual Candlelight Christmas Concert
Piano - Dr. Kimo Smith
Filming - Loma Linda University Church
Sound Engineer & Mixing - Jo Amaya
Messiah composed by George Frideric Handel
"I Have a Dream" written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., August 28, 1963
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LYRICS
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Ev'ry valley shall be exalted, and ev'ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain.
(Isaiah 40:1-4) KJV
3 фев 2021
