Handel

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London Handel Festival & St Martin in the Fields Easter Festival – La Resurrezione

La Resurrezione (1708) is effectively Handel’s Easter Oratorio, composed in Rome during his Italian travels. Although he never gave up his Protestant faith, however, it is very different from the type of composition he would have written had he remained in Lutheran Germany, or that of his contemporary, J. S. Bach, would cultivate in his many …

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Elza van den Heever as Rodelinda. Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera

The Metropolitan Opera – Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda – Elza van den Heever, Sasha Cooke, Iestyn Davies, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Paul Appleby and Adam Plachetka; conducted by Harry Bicket

Stephen Wadsworth’s 2004 staging of Handel’s Rodelinda, last seen at the Met in 2011, is back for its third revival, and it looks and sounds as good as ever. Elza van den Heever leads a uniformly magnificent cast as Rodelinda, Queen of Lombardy, whose husband has been reportedly killed in battle and who is forced to accept …

The Metropolitan Opera – Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda – Elza van den Heever, Sasha Cooke, Iestyn Davies, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Paul Appleby and Adam Plachetka; conducted by Harry Bicket Read More »

Joyce DiDonato (Irene) and Julia Bullock (Theodora) in the Royal Opera House new staging of Theodora. Photograph -Camilla Greenwell

Royal Opera House – Handel’s Theodora – Julia Bullock, Joyce DiDonato & Jakub Józef Orliński; directed by Katie Mitchell; conducted by Harry Bicket

Judging from the number of performances of Theodora in recent times, including staged productions, this has become one of Handel’s most respected oratorios (‘popular’ would be too glib a word for so serious a work) – probably due more to its theme of persecution and freedom of conscience and belief, than the psychology and experience …

Royal Opera House – Handel’s Theodora – Julia Bullock, Joyce DiDonato & Jakub Józef Orliński; directed by Katie Mitchell; conducted by Harry Bicket Read More »

New York Philharmonic – Jeanette Sorrell conducts Handel's Messiah at Riverside Church

New York Philharmonic – Jeanette Sorrell conducts Handel’s Messiah at Riverside Church

The sounds of Handel rang joyously in Riverside Church for this distinguished performance of Messiah led by Jeannette Sorrell. In an impressive New York Philharmonic debut, Sorrell – who founded Apollo’s Fire in 1992 – elicited stylish and agile playing and stirring singing for an evening full of drama and vitality. For most of it, Sorrell kept the …

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Handel’s Messiah [1742 Dublin version] –Gaechinger Cantorey/Hans-Christoph Rademann [Accentus]

One problem with works as central to the canon as Handel’s Messiah is that they become so taken for granted, and also almost assumed to have emerged fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus, that it becomes easy to overlook the fact that the process of their production was a much more gradual, …

Handel’s Messiah [1742 Dublin version] –Gaechinger Cantorey/Hans-Christoph Rademann [Accentus] Read More »

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