Sopranos at Messiah from Scratch®

MESSIAH FROM SCRATCH 2025

Messiah from Scratch® 2025 (Royal Albert Hall, 9 November) ushered in the second 50 years of this remarkable choral participation event. The applause was astonishing – even before anyone had sung a note!

Once again, the Royal Albert Hall was virtually sold out, the only empty seats being those belonging to absent RAH Members – we estimate there were almost 3,200 singers. Our soloists were Jessica Cale, Tom Lilburn (standing in at very short notice for an indisposed Bethany Horak-Hallett), Sebastian Hill and Frederick Long. Keeping thousands of performers astonishingly well under control was the Principal Conductor of The Really Big Chorus, Brian Kay.

The English Festival Orchestra was led this year by Clare Thompson; Joe Atkins (trumpet) provided an equal partner for Frederick Long’s ‘The trumpet shall sound’, while Jane Watts took charge of the ‘Father’ Willis organ. Howard Williams (harpsichord) and Sebastian Comberti (cello) took care of the essential continuo line which underpins Handel’s scoring.

Our second 50 years sees a new charity partner for Messiah from Scratch®. Handel was a founder subscriber to the ‘Fund for Decay’d Musicians’ which later acquired royal patronage, becoming The Royal Society of Musicians. Handel gave many performances of Messiah in aid of the charity and we are proud to continue this link. The RSM will benefit exclusively from programme sales and advertising: on 9 November they raised an amazing £8,883.99. Thank you to everyone who bought a programme and/or donated.

The applause at the beginning may have been astonishing, but at the end it was deafening!

Feedback so far from our singers for Messiah from Scratch® 2025 (you can see more on our Facebook Group):

‘What can we say? Wow what an amazing experience – can’t wait to do it again.’ (choir from County Mayo)
‘What a wonderful experience last night was!  I’ve been to numerous Really Big Chorus events over the years and they never fail to have a lasting impression on me.’ (TB) 
‘As always, the orchestra and soloists were superb.’ (PT)
‘Thanks to all at TRBC for another great night at the Royal Albert Hall. Here’s to doing it all again next year!’ (VW)
‘An utterly amazing experience. Thank you, TRBC, from two First Timers’ (JD)
‘What a fabulous concert – yet again! We sang our hearts out.’ (HS)

Here’s the link to a a few photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pWsn8S2V8DR4tfm79.  Please feel free to add more!

Click here for TRBC singing holidays.