E D U C AT I O N
MESSIAH-50 Your greatness Accords no escape Fate resolute It is volitional, Address your destiny, Divinely trumpeted Harmoniously selected, Gracefully composed Instruct, conduct, crescendo Herald future generations Your seat in The Master’s orchestra Commands you, Perform
Tickets are $10 and may be purchased through Eventbrite online at bit. ly/JHSMessiah50 or at SupportJonesHigh.com. For more information about JHSF or to donate in support of MESSIAH 50, go to SupportJonesHigh.com or call 321-310-8346.
22 ONYX MAGAZINE
JONES HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT CHOIR AND THE ORLANDO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA MARK 50 YEARS OF A HOLIDAY TRADITION. BY VALADA FLEWELLYN
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utstanding performance is the hallmark of the Jones High School Concert Choir (JHSCC). Thursday, December 8, 2022, will mark MESSIAH-50, the 50th anniversary of the choir’s performance of Handel’s “Messiah” with orchestra. George Frideric Handel composed the oratorio in 1741 and it is one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. JHSCC, directed by Andrea Hires Green, will join the Jones High School Alumni & Community Choir directed by Cicely Youngblood, and the University of Central Florida Singing Knights and Orlando Choral Society, both directed by Jeffery Redding, Ph.D. The four choirs will be accompanied by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, with Musical Director Eric Jacobsen. Additionally, the Jones High School String Orchestra will play the “Jones High School Hymn,” which was penned and composed by Thomas Collier, a 1943 JHS graduate. The arrangement for orchestra is by Carl MaultsBy, DFA. What makes this 50th Anniversary performance not only heartwarming and historic, but also unique, is that the three choir directors all are Jones High School graduates and proteges Edna Sampson Hargett, a 1952 graduate who served as choral director for 37 years.
JHSCC began around 1922 under the musical leadership of Mattie Rigel. Over the years, JHSCC has developed a diverse repertoire from opera to standard choral works to gospel. Its reputation for performing at the highest possible professional choral standard is widely known. Green carries on the tradition of excellence and instills in the students the motto, “Think superior, act superior, be superior, sing superior plus!” The impetus for this holiday tradition was a successful musical collaboration between JHSCC and the Florida Symphony Orchestra (FSO) in 1971 at Walt Disney World’s first Christmas Candlelight Service. After much community applause, JHSCC Director Edna Sampson Hargrett and FSO Director Herman Hertz were inspired to plan a collaborative performance the following season. The result was the 1972 JHSCC and FSO concert of Handel’s “Messiah,” thus beginning a tradition. The annual Messiah performance continued in the community as a JHSCC tradition under Hargrett’s handpicked successor, protégé and JHS alumna, Darlean Coleman. From 2000 to 2007, Coleman also continued the choir’s collaboration with FSO successor Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, notably under the baton of Christopher Wilkins. However, with the sudden demise of Coleman in
