“Messiah,” performed by The University of Findlay’s Concert-Chorale and the Findlay-Area Community Chorus, will air on UF-TV cable channel 20 at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 5, and Sunday, May 6.

The complete performance of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” was originally performed Sunday, April 15, in Findlay High School’s Heminger Auditorium in celebration of The University of Findlay’s 125th anniversary.

More than 100 singers joined a 50-piece orchestra and eight professional soloists, all conducted by Micheal F. Anders, Ph.D., professor of music and director of choral activities at UF.

Professional soloists included Kirsten Osbun Manley, soprano; Angela Gwinn, soprano; Elizabeth Gray McGhee, mezzo-soprano; JR Fralick, tenor; Lance Ashmore, baritone; and Seth Mease Carico, bass-baritone.

The performance was the Midwest premiere of Sir Eugene Goossen’s 1959 arrangement of “Messiah” that is scored for a full “modern orchestra” with strings, woodwinds, brass, harp and percussion. UF was the second organization in the U.S. to perform Goossen’s arrangement.

On April 13, 1742, “Messiah” was premiered in Dublin, Ireland. Since then, there has never been a year in which “Messiah” has not been performed somewhere.

Community “Messiah” performances in Findlay date back to around 1930 and were regular features of the Christmas season from the early 1940s until 1967. These performances centered around the Christmas sections of the score and were not complete performances. The first complete performance of “Messiah” in Findlay took place in May 1996 and was given by the UF Concert-Chorale at First Presbyterian Church.