Rare Handel work returns to Flushing

Ask someone to name a classical music standard for the holidays and most people will say Handel’s “Messiah.” Few know that George Frideric Handel wrote another Bible-inspired holiday oratorio - about Chanukkah.
The work is “Judas Maccabaeus” written in 1746, six years after its more famous cousin - and there’s a rare opportunity coming up to experience it, thanks to the Free Synagogue in Flushing.
On Friday, December 19, at 8:15 p.m., there will be a concert performance of this masterwork, featuring the Free Synagogue’s celebrated Cantor Steven Pearlston and their distinguished choir. This is the fifth year they are presenting the concert.
“Until five years ago, there was little hope of catching a performance of ‘Judas Maccabaeus’ during Chanukkah,” Pearlston noted. “We are hoping the practice of performing Handel’s version of the story of Chanukkah catches on all over the country,” he said, stressing that the event is open to the public.
The narrative set to music tells the story Judas Maccabaeus, better known as Judah Maccabee, who led the Israelites in a string of victories during a revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, about 167 BCE.
The performance will be in the sanctuary of the magnificent neo-classical structure, located at the corner of Kissena Boulevard and Sanford Avenue in downtown Flushing.
“Most synagogues do not have the resources to revive this great work,” Pearlston said. Founded in 1917 and the oldest reform congregation in the borough, the Synagogue is the only one in Queens with a pipe organ, which dates to 1927.
Cantor for the congregation since 1973, Pearlston has been associated with several Opera Companies around the country. He has appeared both as a soloist at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, where he served for 10 seasons as chorister.
With Robert Barrows at the keyboard, Jason Covey and Charles Grauman on trumpet providing the musical accompaniment, the program will be narrated by the congregation’s Rabbi, Michael Weisser.
“It is now part of our holiday tradition,” he declared.
The Synagogue noted that some free on-site parking is available, and asked anyone interested to call 718-961-0030 or visit www.freesynagogue.org for more information.