The pre-Christmas Advent season is the right time to go see and hear Händel´s Messiah. A great piece of music, ever so impressive the longer and more often I listen to it. Of course Messiah needs a good and fitting frame, a venue that emphasizes the greatness of the music. What better place could there be in Washington D.C. than the National Cathedral? This was our third time to enjoy the piece there, and it was the best performance yet. We sat in the first third of the nave, where the sound is quite good. The listening experience can differ strongly, depending on where one is seated. A church is always difficult when it comes to acoustics. It can be solemn and just right with a single instrument, or an organ, or a choir. But a whole orchestra can get tricky, because, unlike the well balanced acoustic design of a concert hall, where it doesn´t really matter where one sits, sound has many ways of reflecting and rebouncing off the particular architecture of a churchs interior. So, it really does matter where you sit in a church. There is always a spot where the sound is just right, but there are not many of those spots when an orchestra is playing, let alone an orchestra accompanying singers. But the divine atmosphere of the Cathedral combined with the festive character of the music compensates the acoustic flaw. And in this case we were lucky to have had such good seats, acoustically and visually. 

Beautiful afternoon light. Approaching the Cathedral like this

heightens the expectancy.

As this piece is a tradition at this time of year, it attracts people of all ages.

Friends and family come together for the event

Moving about at halftime

The very colorful floor pattern needs getting used to in a Cathedral.

Taking a break

Chatting and waiting for the second half

What´s more interesting, the concert or the gossip and socializing?

More views of the Cathedral