Hallelujah!

The Shelter Island Community Chorus held its sixth annual Handel’s Messiah Sing on Sunday, Jan. 21 at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.

In the photo above, from far left, facing forward, Soprano Soloist Lucinda Hemmick, Alto Soloist Sara Mundy, Director and Accompanist Linda Betjeman, Accompanist Phyllis Power and Tenor soloist Tom Hemmick.

The annual Messiah Sing honors the late Jack Monaghan, who founded this joyous tradition, held each January.

As Peter Vielbig, who organized Sunday’s program, told the Reporter: “We had over 60 people from Riverhead to Montauk attending. Jack Monaghan was proud of the fact that the Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742 — the crown city of his Irish heritage — as a benefit for the relief of people in debtors prison. Jack himself was a generous benefactor to many Island people and causes.

“There are young folks in our chorus today who were beneficiaries of Jack’s mentoring at Shelter Island School and beyond, hosting them for trips to Ireland and England.”