Illustrative artwork of an outdoor orchestra and choir performing at an ancient hilltop site at sunset

More Than 3,000 Gather at Biblical Site in Jordan for Handel’s Messiah

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More than 3,000 people gathered at one of Jordan’s most significant biblical sites for an outdoor performance of Handel’s Messiah, bringing Christ-centred sacred music to a place traditionally associated with the martyrdom of John the Baptist.

The sunset performance took place on 12 September at Mukawir, also known as Machaerus, the hilltop fortress associated in Christian tradition with the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist.

Against that historic backdrop, the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus performed alongside Jordanian and European soloists and musicians.

The programme featured excerpts from Parts I and II of Handel’s Messiah and concluded with the famous Hallelujah Chorus.

Jordanian soprano Dima Bawab performed alongside French-Turkish mezzo-soprano Julia Deit-Ferrand, French tenor Jean Miannay and French baritone Jean-Christophe Lanièce.

Jordanian musicians Tarek Aljundi, Rula Bargouthi and Rami Aljundi also took part, together with the National Music Conservatory and Fountain of Love Choir, bringing an Arabic musical dimension to Handel’s work.

The performance was held under the patronage of Prince El Hassan bin Talal and organised by Friends of Jordan Festivals under the theme “Echoes of Faith, Voices of Heritage”.

It received support from the European Union, Jordan Tourism Board, Royal Jordanian, Goethe-Institut Jordan and the Embassy of Hungary.

The setting gave the performance particular significance.

Mukawir is traditionally associated with the martyrdom of John the Baptist, the biblical prophet who prepared the way for Jesus Christ.

The event also marked the beginning of a wider cultural and spiritual programme leading towards global commemorations of John the Baptist in 2030.

Jordan’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Dr Emad Hijazeen, said the programme would help preserve the country’s shared heritage while strengthening Jordan as a destination for Christian pilgrimage and cultural tourism.

There is no need to turn the evening into something it was not. A concert is not evidence of Christian revival or mass conversion.

Its significance is simpler — and still remarkable.

At a biblical site in the Middle East, more than 3,000 people gathered while musicians from Jordan and Europe publicly performed one of the great works of Christian sacred music.

Christian heritage at Mukawir was not simply remembered among ancient ruins.

It was sung aloud.

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