Handel’s Messiah
Handel’s Messiah
Saturday
Dec 13, 2025
7:30 PM
Please note: single tickets to this concert are General Admission only. Reserved seating is available by subscribing.
Winston-Salem Symphony
Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus
Katherine Henly Soprano
Kelley O’Connor Mezzo Soprano
Jack Swanson Tenor
Daniel Rich Bass
Michelle Merrill Conductor
Chris Gilliam Chorus Director
George Frideric Handel
Messiah
Handel’s Messiah is one of the most celebrated oratorios of all time. The glorious “Hallelujah” chorus, tenderly expressive arias, and the majestic choruses have been drawing crowds since the composition was premiered in 1742. Let Handel’s melodies lift your spirit and fill your heart this Christmas season as Music Director Michelle Merrill invites you to rediscover the magic of this enduring work.
PLEASE NOTE: Single tickets for this performance are General Admission ONLY. Reserved seating is available via subscription packages.
THE
PAULINE TURNER DOUGHTON
LEAD CHORUS
SPONSORSHIP
Single tickets to this event go on sale June 2, but you can save your seat with a subscription!
Saturday
Dec 13
7:30 PM
Venue
Wait Chapel
Wake Forest University
2625 Wake Forest Rd.
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
Rideshare and Dining
Katherine Henly, soprano
Praised for her captivating and affecting portrayals in genres ranging from opera, to musical theater, jazz, and pop throughout the United States and abroad, soprano Katherine Henly is quickly becoming known as a crossover artist to watch.
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
The Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling vocal artists of her generation. She is known for a commanding intensity on stage, a velvet vocal tone, and the ability to create sheer magic in her interpretations. O’Connor performs and inhabits a broad selection of repertoire, from Beethoven, Mahler and Brahms to Dessner, Corigliano and Adams; she is sought after by many of today’s most accomplished composers.
Jack Swanson, tenor
Stillwater, Minnesota native Jack Swanson is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after young tenors in the opera world. His distinctive high lyric voice is known for singing the acrobatic arias of Rossini and the legato melodies of Donizetti.
Daniel Rich, bass
Baltimore-born baritone Daniel Rich is a recent graduate of The Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. During the 2023–24 Met season, he appeared as Pâris in Roméo et Juliette and as Chester in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones. He made his Met debut during the 2022–23 season as a Waiter in Der Rosenkavalier and covered the Count of Lerma in Don Carlo. He will make his company debut at Des Moines Metro Opera this summer, where he will sing the First Nazarene and cover Jochanaan in Salome, and sing Willie McDonald in the premiere of Damien Geter and Lila Palmer’s American Apollo.
Michelle Merrill, conductor
WSS Music Director Michelle Merrill served four years as the Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and also serves as the Music Director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, where she has ignited the growth and expansion of the orchestra’s offerings both on and off the stage. Ms. Merrill is a proud recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award as well as the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship as awarded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival.
