For the first time in its 81-year history, the annual performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah Oratorio by the Lake Charles Messiah Chorus and Orchestra will be performed in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Lake Charles will take place on Sunday, December 4, at 3:30 p.m.  Admission is free.

Conducted by Colette Bulber Tanner, the Lake Charles Messiah Chorus was organized in 1939 by her late father, McNeese professor Dr. Francis G. Bulber, with the first Messiah performance in 1940. The long-standing tradition paused in 2020 because of COVID-19 and back-to-back hurricanes.

The musical presentation will return to McNeese State University in 2023 after renovations are complete in the auditorium named for Dr. Bulber. 

For more information or to help support the Lake Charles Messiah Chorus, visit www.lcmessiah.org. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is located at 935 Bilbo Street. The concert is slightly over one hour in length.