Although Handel’s Messiah was first performed in Hebrew around ten years ago, the oratorio which was originally composed in 1741 has had a fresh new makeover for 2025 designed to captivate a more modern audience.
Isaiah’s prophecies that were put to the most extraordinary music by Handel still have a powerful message for Israel today. In these days of such darkness we are desperately in need of some good news. Isaiah brings these words of hope and promise:
“The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2)
Concerned that the words can get lost in a very classical rendering, new versions of four sections of the music have been performed in the Tower of David in Jerusalem, with a contemporary twist.
“It’s the first time it’s ever been done,” said Eitan Kashtan, who helped organize the production. Now, a dream conceived a year ago has come to pass: to present Handel’s Messiah in Hebrew blended together a more modern style that could reach today’s Israeli audience.
“We had a symphonic orchestra with twenty artists, and the man who did the arrangement is one of the best in the world,” Kashtan said. Some of the best musicians you can find in Israel worked together on the production with a conductor, professional singers, and a to crew the lights, visuals, and sound.
Guitarist Avi Singolda, who has worked worked with Eitan on many of his songs, was a key part of the team, and Nitzan Ofir, a professional who studied singing for many years was chosen as the main voice.
“It was cold and rainy, and they all came around three in the afternoon and finished around one in the morning but no one complained,” said Kashtan. “The atmosphere was excellent. They knew what they were doing was bigger than us.”
Avi Singolda said, “I’ve never done a project like this. In all my life, this is the greatest project I ever did.”
Though not believers, the team were told that the whole production was not simply an artistic endeavor, but a way of conveying Isaiah’s powerful message. Eitan said they really connected to the concept, with no one complaining at all, despite long hours in the cold.
Four parts were performed in four different styles, rock, pop, more classical, and then country music style, all carefully keeping the classical roots of Handel’s well-loved composition.
The four parts chosen were two passages from Isaiah 9, part of Isaiah 40 speaking comfort over God’s people, and the Hallelujah chorus.
While the production in Jerusalem was all in Hebrew, you might recognize some of the words from these sections in English:
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they
That dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace
Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness:-Prepare ye the way of the Lord: make straight in the desert a Highway for our God…
And He shall reign for ever and everAnd He shall reign for ever and everAnd He shall reign for ever and everAnd He shall reign for ever and ever
