Sarasota in 1944 was a much different place. No high rises lined the bayfront and many still remembered a sleepy fishing village centered around Five Points. Yet Sarasota, even then, was a city of culture where the arts and music flourished. And Sarasota in 1944 was fortunate, as now, to have people with vision and a spirit of community. It was those individuals who staged the first production of Handel’s Messiah for Sarasotans in December 1944.

The Sarasota Choral Society was actually formed nine years previous to this by Mrs. Thomas Butler. Singers from local church choirs had weekly rehearsals and two concerts per year, one at Christmas and one in the spring. Membership was comprised of people from area churches, just as many of the members today. Three of these members were instrumental in getting the Choral Society to put on the Messiah: Mrs. Walter Wooten, Mrs. Eleanor Bates Northern, and long time board member Elizabeth (Lane) Whittington. Mrs. Northern would conduct rehearsals and a director from Tampa was brought in for the actual performance. The practice of hiring local musicians for the Society’s performance also originated in 1945, and this loosely formed group became the nucleus for what is known today as the Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra. In the 1940s and early 1950s, anywhere from 50-75 members sang in the group and performances were held in the Municipal Auditorium.

Julia W. Rohr began a new chapter of the Choral Society’s history when she was hired as director in 1956. Membership throughout her years increased to as much as 300 and performances have been held at First Baptist, First Methodist, and Bahia Vista Mennonite Churches, the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art courtyard, and, since 1973, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Dr. Rohr retired at her zenith with the Choral Society, conducting her last production, celebrating the Society’s 50th Anniversary performance of the Messiah, on December 4, 1994 at Van Wezel.