Messiah Sunday tradition returns to Blessed Mother Teresa on Dec. 11

Members of the Blessed Mother Teresa choir form the nucleus of the 28-voice ensemble that will perform at the Dec. 11 “Messiah Sunday” Mass under the direction of Sheldon Lee.

On Sunday, December 11 during the 11 a.m. “Messiah Sunday” Mass at Blessed Mother Teresa (BMT) Parish, Music Director Sheldon Lee will mark 17 years in recreating a grand European Advent tradition in Dorchester parishes.

A full orchestra and augmented choir will perform classical religious selections throughout the regular ceremony: a worship service and free concert all in one. Since this is the best-attended event of the year at St. Margaret Church, 800 Columbia Road, “Messiah Sunday” veterans come as much as an hour early to secure a seat.

The 32 musicians in this year’s Messiah Sunday orchestra hail from many prestigious ensembles including The Boston Symphony, The Boston Philharmonic, The Rhode Island Philharmonic, The Portland Philharmonic, The Cape Cod Symphony, and the Springfield Philharmonic.

The 28-voice choir will consist of visiting professionals and the regular BMT choir made up largely of parishioners of the now-shuttered St Williams Parish, where this tradition began and where it flourished until St. Williams and St. Margaret’s were merged.

Familiar elements of the program include a Prelude of beloved Christmas carols, selections from Carl Orff’s popular cantata Carmina Burana, and as the Recessional, “The Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah, the ubiquitous holiday favorite that lends its name to the event.

Lee, who received his Masters in Voice from New England Conservatory, highlights what will be new in 2011.

“There will be what I term ‘three world premieres’ of special arrangements which I have been working on since last April,” said Lee. “They come from the symphonic and operatic repertory, already famous compositions to which I’ve added choral parts with new texts.”

These retrofitted classics will include excerpts from Richard Wagner’s operas “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre” as well as a new Kyrie fashioned from the often-recorded “Adagio in G Minor,” popularly attributed to Baroque composer Tomaso Albioni.

“I greatly enjoy creating these transcriptions and introducing this great music into our worship service for the people of Dorchester!” observes Lee.

Lee also sought a way to accentuate the range of the church’s recently-installed Rodgers Allegiant organ, featuring 51 internal orchestral voices and 184 stops, equivalent to 241 pipe ranks.

“To showcase our splendid new organ, I’ve arranged a new piece for Communion from Camille St. Saëns Symphony # 3, also called ‘The Organ Symphony,’” Lee added.

Lee got the idea for Messiah Sunday from the great masses composed by immortals like Handel, Mozart and Shubert, as well as from having attended services in Austria where this type of music-packed mass is celebrated every week.

Fierce loyalty to this tradition and to Lee himself explains why the unpaid BMT choristers every year collect thousands of dollars from family, friends and neighbors to underwrite this production, defraying about 40 percent of the expenses.

For further information or to make a contribution, call 617-513-8254.