A live stream will connect the present to the past at Bethany College on Sunday.

The Coronavirus closed the stage at Presser Hall last spring sending college students home from Bethany without the satisfaction of performing Handel’s Messiah during the Easter season. As the days turned into weeks – Dr. Mark Lucas kept looking ahead with a plan to win the day, by using proper protocols.

The Bethany College Director of Choral Activities tells KSAL News that one challenge was to find the right mix of social distance and enough performance ‘pop’ to pull off Bethany’s signature concert in a safe manner.

Lucas says the performers will be spread out and all wearing special singing masks on Sunday.

On past Easter Sundays some 300 singers and musicians would have crowded on the stage to lift their voices and instruments in praise.

This time around about 30 singers and 15 musicians will perform in an empty hall – linked online to the world via screens and linked back to generations of students and area residents who have kept the tradition alive for the past 138 years.

The Bethany Oratorio Society’s performance of Handel’s “Messiah” at Bethany College will be live streamed from Lindsborg.

The 139th consecutive performance will take place Sunday, October 13 at 3pm from Presser Hall Auditorium on Bethany’s campus.

Watch online by following the link:

https://www.bethanylb.edu/live