Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Handel’s “Messiah” at SF Symphony

George Frideric Handel was at heart a man of the theatre, whether the opera stage or the “ecclesiastical theatre” of the oratorio. He infused everything he wrote with drama. That’s one of the qualities that makes his music so memorable: his arias, vocal ensembles, and choruses, not to mention his concertos, sonatas, and sinfonias, contain emphatic turns of phrase that engrave themselves on the mind.

In an age that valued adherence to Classical standards and, by extension, did not disdain a certain interchangeability of style, Handel exhibited brash independence of musical character. In his mature works, he rarely sounds like anybody else. “Handel understands effect better than any of us,” wrote Mozart, one of his dedicated admirers. “When he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.” Other qualified listeners concurred. When asked to name the all-time greatest composer, Beethoven exclaimed, “Handel—to him I bow the knee.” (Lying on his deathbed, Beethoven asked for a volume of Handel to console him.)

Handel’s oratorio Messiah dates from a crucial moment in his career. The work’s success in turn proved crucial to the history of the oratorio as a genre…

On the Stage

The Hills of California

Theatre | Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Now – December 7 | Tickets

Internationally renowned Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (The Ferryman, Jerusalem) weaves the compelling, tender, and savagely funny tale of the Webb sisters’ return to their childhood home in an English seaside town.

Audio Described: December 6

View the Program

More Events

• The Golden Girls Live | BroadwaySF | Now – December 21
• Georgiana & Kitty | TheatreWorks | Now – December 28
• Nutcracker | San Francisco Ballet | Now – December 28
  • Audio Described: November 30
• Sunday in the Park with George | Shotgun Players | Now – January 25
  • Audio Described: December 7
  • ASL Interpreted: December 10

Next Line

• The Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project (FIPPP) announces a festival of work at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The festival will run January 15–18, 2026, celebrating the culmination of a three-year residency.
• Complete casting announced for A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. The production will run January 21–February 1, 2026 at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.