Detroit Free Press Mark Stryker column: 'Messiah' with a gospel feel.

Byline: Mark Stryker

Dec. 8--CLASSICAL For 11 bars, the music sounds like a traditional reading of Handel's "Messiah." Then saxophones swoon down on the strings and a rhythm section lurches into a backbeat. Soon the choir and vocal soloists turn the 250-year-old masterpiece of Western music into a gospel revival meeting. Hallelujah! The Rackham Symphony Choir's performances of "Too Hot to Handel," a gospel reinvention of the "Messiah," have become an annual Detroit tradition. The work, created by arrangers Gary Anderson and Robert Christianson, presents an engaging and musicianly spin on an old favorite, and the choir, orchestra, conductor Suzanne Mallare Acton and local jazz musicians are comfortable with the idiom. The dynamic vocal soloists are Alfreda Burke, Victor Trent Cook and Rodrick Dixon. 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway. 313-237-7464 or michiganopera.org. $18-$58. One of the more satisfying developments at Orchestra Hall in recent seasons has been the return of the eminent Spanish conductor Rafael FrE-hbeck de Burgos to the guest-conductor roster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The 73-year-old maestro appears twice this season, returning in May to conduct Mahler's Second Symphony. This weekend he leads Resphighi's "Fountains of Rome" and "Pines of Rome" and Brahms' Symphony No. 3.

10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. today and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Orchestra Hall, Max M. Fisher ...