Friday 26 May 2017

Handel: Friends, Foes & Flattery

The Brook Street Band
The Brook Street Band
The Brook Street Band returns to St John's Smith Square on Sunday 4 June 2017 with a programme entitled Handel – friends, foes and flattery which looks at some of the other lively London personalities from Handel's time, composers whose music featured more prominently in contemporary programmes than that of Handel. The concert tries to provide a picture of the lively social and political contexts which surrounded the music and includes music by Handel, the Italian-born composers Giacobbe Cervetto (an Anglo-Italian musician of Jewish descent), Francesco Geminiani (a virtuoso violinist who played violin concerti at the court of George I with Handel at the keyboard), Giovanni Bononcini (an opera composer whose popularity rivalled and outstripped that of Handel but who left London under a cloud after charges of plagiarism were proved) and Francesco Veracini (a composer and virtuoso violinist), and pieces by Handel’s direct English contemporaries Thomas Arne and William Boyce.

An invigorating mix of chamber music provides contrast, with solo sonatas mixed in with trio sonatas. An illustrated pre-concert talk by the group's cellist Tatty Theo introduces the audience to the music performed, the characters who would have played it, and its social and historical context.

Full details from the St John's Smith Square website.


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