London Handel Players on the road

London Handel Players

The London Handel Players are the resident house band for the London Handel Festival, performing a number of concerts each year at St. George's Square, Hanover Square and Wigmore Hall as part of the festival, including accompanying the performances of Handel's oratorios and dramatic works. The group made their debut at the 2000 London Handel Festival. They also have a life outside the festival and will be making an appearance in Oxford tomorrow, 17 October.


They are playing at the Sheldonian Theatre, which is one of the few surviving buildings where Handel actually put on concerts. He performed there in 1733, giving the premiere of Athalia along with performances of Esther and Deborah. The Sheldonian Theatre is, I believe, the only surviving venue where Handel performed his oratorios.

On Wednesday 17 October, they will be performing a programme based around music at the court of Frederick the Great of Prussia, as part of a conference at Oxford marking the 300th anniversary of his birth. The programme includes music by CPE Bach, Quantz, JS Bach, Franz Benda and Frederick the Great himself. And of course, the programme features a flute player (how could it not) in the form of Rachel Brown.

On Saturday 20 October the group will be in Stratford-upon-Avon for a concert at Holy Trinity Church with a feast of baroque concertos by Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach, including his 5th Brandenburg Concerto. Further ahead, the London Handel Players will also be appearing at the Spitalfields Winter Festival on 7 December.