LEWISTON — The 60-voice Androscoggin Chorale and the Maine Music Society Orchestra will present Handel’s “Messiah” for two performances April 6-7.

John Corrie, Maine Music Society artistic director, said there is no other choral work that carries the significance of “Messiah” by George Frederic Handel. It is performed by more singers every year than any other choral work.

The Christmas portion of Handel’s “Messiah” is performed most often, Corrie said, although the entire composition is actually a resurrection oratorio.

He said this Easter season’s presentation will include about two-thirds of Handel’s celebrated composition. He noted that “Messiah” is huge, and audiences would have difficulty taking in the complete oratorio in one sitting.

Corrie said several choruses and solos from the second and third sections are among his favorites. Familiar segments of “Messiah” are “My Redeemer Liveth,” “The Trumpets Shall Sound,” and “The Hallelujah Chorus.”

He also has high praise for the Franco-American Heritage Center’s acoustics.

“It’s important to have a live space, and the sound just rolls there,” he said of the space that was formerly St. Mary’s Church and has become an important venue since major renovations were undertaken.

Soloists in this performance are Susan Strickland, soprano, from Brunswick, and Suzannah Dowling, mezzo-soprano, a resident of Yarmouth. They are members of the Androscoggin Chorale.

Guest soloists are Martin Lescault, tenor, who comes from the Portland area, and Leon Griesbach, bass-baritone, who is director of music at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

Corrie said Handel was a prolific composer, and “Messiah” was the sixth oratorio of 15 that he wrote. Handel also composed 45 operas in Italian before changing to English for the text of his work, including “Messiah.” That famous oratorio debuted in Dublin, Ireland in 1742.

An online biography of the composer states, “It has been calculated that Handel committed more notes to paper than any other composer in history.”

In six days beginning in August 1741, he drafted 100 sides of 10-stave paper. He wrote the whole oratorio in just three weeks.

Corrie remarked that he often wonders how many languages “Messiah” may have been translated in to around the world. He said he has a recording of the oratorio in Swahili.

While “Messiah” has been performed by Maine Music Society’s Androscoggin Chorale at Christmas in the past, this is the first performance with orchestra in about seven years, Corrie said. The Christmas presentations have been sing-along versions, but this is not an audience sing-along performance.

The roots of the Maine Music Society began with the Androscoggin Chorale, which was formed in Lewiston in 1972. It is an auditioned, mixed-voice community chorus.

The Maine Music Society was organized in 1991 to support the artistic and educational activities of the professional players of the Maine Music Society Orchestra and the Androscoggin Chorale.

Corrie has been artistic director of the Maine Music Society since 2006. He teaches the musicianship labs and applied voice at Bates College, and he directs the College Choir. Corrie is a harpsichord and organ performer with degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, Northwestern University, and Yale University, and has studied in Vienna on a Fulbright grant.

Performances of Handel’s “Messiah” will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 7 at the Franco-American Heritage Center, Cedar and Oxford Streets.

Advance tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, and $9 for students. Children under 12 are free when accompanied by an adult.

For tickets, call L/A Arts at 782-7228 or visit www.mainemusicsociety.org.