Handel's Belshazzar is one of his finest, dramatically coherent oratorios yet it does not get as many outings as it deserves. There is a chance to catch it on Saturday March 25, 2017 at St James's Church, Piccadilly, London when Richard Bannan conducts the Petros Singers and a strong cast including Rupert Charlesworth as Belshazzar, Emma Kirkby as Nitocris, James Hall as Cyrus, Giles Underwood as Gobrias and David Allsopp as Daniel.
Written in 1744, Belshazzar features a strong tenor role (the title role) for Handel's favourite tenor, John Beard, for whom he wrote the title role in Samson. The libretto by Charles Jennens was one of the best that Handel set, Jennens had a gift for dramatic structure which escaped some of Handel's other collaborators. The text so enthused Handel that his original draft of Act One ran to something like double its final length.
Full details from the Petros Singers website.
Friday, 24 March 2017
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
The young composer Alistair White is having a busy moment, his opera ROBE recently premiered at Tête à Tête [see my review ], and now hi...
-
Handel Suites de Pièces nos 1-4, 1720; Pierre Hantaï; Mirare Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 4 December 2020 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)...
-
Alastair White (Photo Gemma A. Williams) We caught the premiere of Alastair White 's opera ROBE at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival in ...
-
Being as it is Easter weekend, there seem to be a plethora of Bach passions on the internet, with a wide variety of performing styles. Whi...
-
Friday Afternoons is a project that arose out of the Britten Centenary in 2013, when Britten's own set of songs for children, Friday Af...
-
Bach: St John Passion - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Photo from film directed by Grant Gee) Easter Sunday saw us continuing our r...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
The Octagon Tower, Ely Cathedral (photo Mark Seton ) Holy Week has always been a busy time for singers and musicians, and it seems that with...
-
Friends Meeting House, Hertford (Photo taken by Equus caballus, November 24, 2012, from Wikipedia ) Live classical music is cautiously comin...
-
Isolation Songbook ; Helen Charlston, Michael Craddock, Alexander Soares; Delphian Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 26 March 2021 Star...

No comments:
Post a comment