SEQUIM — “Handel with Care” had stiff competition Sunday: the Seattle Seahawks game.
But that didn’t dampen the turnout, the donations or the team spirit at this annual sing-along “Messiah” in Sequim.
Conductor Dewey Ehling and his orchestra of musicians from across Clallam and Jefferson counties played for a full Trinity United Methodist Church sanctuary, and gathered an unprecedented sum for Sequim Community Aid, the charity providing help to struggling Sequim residents.
“Someone put a check for $1,000 in the donation basket,” marveled Shirley Anderson, an organizer of Handel with Care since its beginning in 2001.
Sunday’s collection reached $2,413, she noted. Then, as in previous years, an anonymous supporter of the event matched it for a total of $4,826, the largest-ever Handel with Care intake for Sequim Community Aid.
The music was rich as well, Anderson added, with nine soloists and a congregation of about 200 singers from surrounding communities.
Ehling rehearses with the Handel with Care orchestra just once, about two hours before show time. Then the audience arrives, picks up “Messiah” scores and commences singing shortly after 3 p.m.
Ehling, 86, led them all through 20 parts of the “Messiah” oratorio, from “Comfort Ye My People” to “His Yoke Is Easy,” and that was just the first half.
After intermission came songs including “Lift up Your Heads, O Ye Gates,” “The Lord Gave the Word,” “Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage” with a solo by Nicholas Fritschler, an 18-year-old Port Angeles High School student.
Next Ehling invited pianist Gary McRoberts up to the podium. Introducing his dear friend, Ehling handed over his baton, and McRoberts proceeded to conduct the “Hallelujah” chorus.
As the church filled with voices, Ehling looked out, smiled, and sang along.
“He had no idea I was going to do that,” the maestro said when McRoberts finished.
“Thank you, Gary.”
McRoberts, 73, recently led the Sequim Community Christmas Chorus in concert, and has a doctorate in conducting.
But it was “a complete surprise,” he said, when Ehling asked him up.
He’d planned on being the accompanist only, since the regular pianist, Pat Marcy, is recovering from eye surgery.
This was the first time he’d played a full-length “Messiah,” and yes, it was a workout.
Sunday’s soloists, in addition to Fritschler, included Milton Patrie, Vicki Helwick, Annika Morgan, Debra and Jessica Reid, Dalton and Taylor Ackley and Esther Morgan-Ellis.
Anderson gave thanks for those who came to make music — and generate support for Sequim Community Aid — on Sunday.
Many return year after year, she added, because of Ehling’s dedication, despite ill health.
“He is the surely one of the kindest, most gentle people I know.” The maestro, along with the orchestra, the soloists and those who came to sing and listen, “are the true gifts to this community.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
