Messiah/Complex gives Handel's holiday masterpiece a multilingual makeover, at The Cinematheque December 14

Diverse singers from across the country reinterpret the choral work amid spectacular Canadian settings

Looee Arreak performs in *Messiah/Complex* in Nunavut.

The Cinematheque screens Messiah/Complex on December 14 at 7:30 pm

VANCOUVERITES have a chance to experience a different kind of Messiah this holiday season.

The Cinematheque is going to screen Messiah/Complex, the internationally lauded filmed interpretation of George Frederick Handel’s monumnetal choral work, produced by Against the Grain theatre and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

It’s a unique re-envisioning of the work through a postcolonial lens, featuring the voices from every province and territory, and translating it into languages from Dene to Arabic. The singers perform amid cathedrals, snowscapes, skating rinks, and forests, caught in gorgeous cinematography by a staggering 16 production teams.

Look for some familiar faces and voices: recent Early Music Vancouver artist-in-residence, Cree-Métis baritone Jonathon Adams performs a resounding solo by an open fire; and exciting young tenor Spencer Britten represents BC in the opening recitative. Yellowknife’s Leela Gilday also performs a moving Dene translation of “I know that my Redeemer liveth”, set against a snowy backdrop.

Joel Ivany and Renellta Arluk direct while Johannes Debus conducts.

You'll find it just as exultant, if not more so, than the original English choral version; check out the trailer below to see what we mean. The New York Times perhaps puts it best, calling it a “Messiah for the multitides”.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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