As the holiday season shifts into a higher gear, this weekend featured multiple excellent visits with dear friends and family, but we kicked it off with an elegant night out.
Yet another friend was able to gift us tickets to Handel's Messiah at my favourite music Venue, The Winspear, but we decided to extend the experience by dining out at Continental Treat Bistro.
I love my family and appreciate children, and enjoy a fun casual night out where the food is good, but I can't remember the last time we dressed up for dinner in an almost child-free space. The bistro is on the corner of Jasper Avenue and 97th street (where Hardware Grill used to be) but the flagship location has been on Whyte Ave since 1982.
In addition to a diverse menu featuring a lot of German and Czech dishes, they also have a creative cocktail menu and stellar beer list (including Westvleteren XII, 'the world's rarest beer'!). Our server was wonderful and we enjoyed escargots, a shrimp salad and rouladen for dinner, and added tiramisu, streudel and a maple whiskey coffee simply because it was too early to walk to the venue.
A jazz trio serenaded us and it was only afterwards that we realized the entire menu is gluten-free; we will have to come back and try their schnitzel, which they claim is best in the city...
After a short walk to the Winspear, we picked up our tix from the box office, checked our coats and made our way to the third floor gallery. I maintain that there are no bad seats in this place, and even two rows back on the highest level, we could still see and hear everything clearly.
'Everything' in this case includes a 27-piece orchestra, The Richard Eaton Singers (a 90+ voice choir), 4 vocal soloists and the enormous Davis Concert Organ.
Now, like most people, I am familiar enough with the famous Hallelujah chorus from The Messiah, and recognized another piece from Audrey's extensive collection of Christmas music, but neither of us had ever heard it all the way through before, and it is spectacular.
I wish I had thought to bring a libretto or whatever you call the lyrics and liner notes for an oratorio because despite being sung in English, I could discern very little, but can tell you it all sounded marvelous. Handel was born in Germany but composed the Messiah 15 years after becoming a naturalized British citizen, but I honestly thought I had heard at least two other languages on Friday night.
My lack of understanding did nothing to hamper my appreciation though; just watching the conductor weave together so much instrumentation and so many voices was completely spellbinding to me as a layman, and the beauty of the performance spoke for itself.
I don't know that I would go every year, as I know some people do, but I am confident we will return!
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