The Splendor of His Music

It began innocently enough for Diane McMurrin, her husband, Roger, and their teenage son, Matthew: A five-week vacation to Ukraine shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. But while there, Roger, a church music director, organized a performance of Handel's Messiah. The Ukrainian audience and singers--most of whom were atheists--had never heard the classic work before. Sacred music, with a message of hope and salvation, had been forbidden while atheism and Communism reigned in Eastern Europe.