"Messiah" returns to Hill Auditorium on December 4 and 5.

photo courtesy of the University Musical Society

December 16, 1879 was a big day in Ann Arbor history. That’s when the University Musical Society Choral Union came on the scene. It has presented Handel’s oratorio “Messiah” every year since. One could write different first sentence for this story, one that would read “a big day in Ann Arbor music history,” but to do so would be to underestimate the place these annual performances of “Messiah” occupy — not just for generations of singers (of which I was one for 10 years), but for audience members for whom this local “Messiah” has become a tradition and an opening to the Christmas season.

This year marks the eighth that conductor Jerry Blackstone leads the 175 singers of the Choral Union in Handel’s “Messiah.” And if, over the years of his deepening association with the Choral Union, “Messiah” performances have become ever more a family affair for him and the singers, they are more so than ever when he steps onto the podium at Hill Auditorium December 4 and 5 to lead the Choral Union and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in “Messiah” 2010.

That’s because each and every one of the four soloists, rising stars in their profession — Caitlin Lynch, soprano; Meredith Arwady, contralto; Nicholas Phan, tenor; and Jesse Blumberg, baritone — is a singer Blackstone has known since they were teenagers. All are Michiganders, some are native Ann Arborites and some got their degrees just up the block at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where Blackstone is on the faculty.

“That’s probably the biggest change this year,” Blackstone said in a recent phone call, talking about “Messiah.”

It’s more typical for Blackstone to confer with the University Musical Society on soloists UMS proposes than to select them himself. But rounding up this quartet was irresistible. “I’m very excited about it,” he said.

Blackstone got to know Lynch, the soprano soloist, when she was in high school, singing with him in the University of Michigan All-State High School Choir at Interlochen. Ditto for contralto Arwady. Tenor Phan, an Ann Arborite, was in Blackstone’s U-M Michigan Youth Chamber Singers during his years at Greenhills High School. Like Lynch and also Blumberg, Phan did his undergraduate music degree at Michigan; and Blackstone continued to work with all three during their U-M years.

It’s equally a thrill for these soloists to be back under Blackstone’s baton. Lynch, for example, recalls how giant an influence Blackstone had on her musical development. Writing about what this “Messiah” means to her for the UMS program book, Lynch said, “Handel’s ‘Messiah’ is my favorite oratorio, and every opportunity I have to sing it feels like a true blessing. But the opportunity to sing this beautiful work at my alma mater with Dr. Blackstone conducting is truly a dream come true. Talk about coming full circle.”

Phan, many of whose musical experiences are tied to Hill Auditorium, has similar feelings:

“To come back to Hill for such an important UMS tradition, standing on stage as a colleague with the people who started me on this life journey, marks not only a dream come true, but the ultimate homecoming.”

Susan Isaacs Nisbett is a free-lance writer who covers classical music and dance for AnnArbor.com.