Handel Choir

"I wanted to write something that reaches people," says composer Jonathan Leshnoff. The result of that desire, Requiem for the Fallen, receives its premiere tomorrow by the Handel Choir of Baltimore and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. The score, which incorporates traditional Latin and Hebrew liturgical texts, poems from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and a well-known prayer attributed to St. Francis, commemorates both military and civilian casualties of war. Leshnoff, a faculty member at Towson University and the BCO's composer in residence, does not specify which war. "The piece could apply to anything," he says.

It's Messiah time again, when choral groups large and small tackle Handel's stirring oratorio. Looking around at this year's many performances, some offer extra points of interest. Consider American Opera Theater's staged Messiah in Washington and Baltimore. Yes, staged, more or less like an opera. This company, directed by Timothy Nelson, has livened up past seasons with such imaginative productions as Charpentier's David and Jonathan and Handel's Acis and Galatea (set in a circus tent)

With present-day reverberations of the Scopes trial never far from the national headlines, Haydn's pre-evolution-theory oratorio, The Creation, may give some listeners an extra kick. But this retelling of the six-day process described in Genesis doesn't ask anyone to take theological or political sides. It's just great music. Although one of the highest peaks in Haydn's output, The Creation doesn't turn up in concert all that often, making the Handel Choir of Baltimore's season-ending presentation of the piece Sunday most welcome.

Nations do it (at least sometimes), so why not music groups? Get together, that is, and pool their resources for a good cause. Thanks to underwriting from two anonymous donors, that's just what happened Sunday afternoon at the Peabody Institute, where the stage was shared by the Handel Choir of Baltimore, Pro Musica Rara and two Peabody organizations -- the Baltimore Baroque Band and Peabody Renaissance Ensemble. Bringing all of these voices and period instruments together was a program of music associated with courts of Europe, from the regal team of Ferdinand and Isabella in the late 15th century to the days of England's Queen Anne about two centuries later.

THEATER IRREVERENT 'ALTAR BOYZ' Altar Boyz -- the irreverent off-Broadway musical about a religious singing group whose members are named Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham -- opens a one-week run at the Hippodrome Theatre on Tuesday. The small-scale show, now in its second year in New York, has a score by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker and a script by Kevin Del Aguila. Devotees of the show have been dubbed "Altarholics." The touring production stars Matthew Buckner, Ryan J Ratliff, Jesse "JP" Johnson, Jay Garcia and Nick Blaemire, under the direction of Stafford Arima.

Voices will be warming up soon for the 2006-2007 season, including those of the area's oldest choral ensemble, the Handel Choir of Baltimore. Founded in 1934, the group has been steadily improving its musical assets since Melinda O'Neal started her tenure as artistic director in 2004. The choir's subscription concerts for the new season will include an all-Bach program sung by a newly formed, chamber-sized choir-within-the-choir called the Chandos Singers. This November program will include the Wedding Cantata and the motet Jesu, meine Freude.

Art on the run The lowdown -- At 10 a.m. Saturday, about 30 eccentric vehicles will start lumbering through the city, marking the beginning of this year's Kinetic Sculpture Race. The 15-mile course runs over sand, mud, pavement and water and takes about eight hours to complete. The middle-place finisher wins. If you go -- Opening ceremonies for the Kinetic Race are 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Highway. For a course map and list of prime viewing spots, visit kinetic baltimore.

Those heavenly sounds being heard in concert halls across the region aren't just ordinary trappings of the holiday season. Baltimore has a remarkable collection of choral ability - three organizations led by talented people who shaped or are molding some of the nation's finest choral ensembles. MELINDA O'NEAL One of Baltimore's longest-performing choral groups, The Handel Choir of Baltimore, which has been singing the Messiah and other classical pieces here for 72 years, is also one of its freshest, thanks to Melinda O'Neal, who made her debut as artistic director and conductor in the 2004-2005 season.

With new guidance on the podium and the unmistakable sound of new potential in the air, the Handel Choir of Baltimore opened its 70th season over the weekend, presenting portions of two holiday classics. The crowd that turned out Sunday afternoon at Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium found a lean ensemble onstage - 40 singers, a third fewer than in recent years. The back-up for the chorus was likewise lean - an orchestra of about 20 baroque-style instruments, which produce a softer-edged tone than modern counterparts.