A focus on Handel: the English Concert's 2023/24 season

The English Concert

The English Concert's 2023/24 season centres very firmly on the music of Handel. Kristian Bezuidenhout conducts a performance of Amadigi di Gaula at St Martin in the Fields on 21 September 2023, with Tim Mead in the title role, Hilary Cronin as Oriana, Mary Bevan as Melissa, and Hugh Cutting as Dardano. Then at Boughton House on 23 September, Harry Bicket directs a performance of Acis and Galatea with James Way, Hilary Cronin, Gwilym Bowen and Neal Davies. The performance is part of Handeliade: London & Boughton House – a gathering of performers and speakers hosted jointly by Handel & Hendrix House and Boughton House to celebrate Handel’s legacy and the cultural landscape of the 18th century.

At the Wigmore Hall on 18 October, Harry Bicket directs a performance of the cantata Clori, Tirsi and Fileno with Ailish Tynan, Joelle Harvey and Iestyn Davies. Having performed Handel's Rodelinda in 2020 in a socially distanced performance, and recorded the work [see my review], Harry Bicket and the English Concert are returning to the opera with Lucy Crowe and Iestyn Davies in an international tour to the USA, China and South Korea with a single UK performance at Saffron Hall on 2 December as part of the hall's 10th birthday celebrations.

Away from Handel, the ensemble performs Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppea in Spain, and returns to Garsington in 2024 for performances of Rameau’s Platée conducted by Paul Agnew and directed by Louisa Muller. 

The ambitious Handel for All project continues and during 2023/24 films of Solomon, Amadigi, Italian duets and trios, Chandos Anthems, Organ Concertos, The Foundling Anthem and Music for the Royal Fireworks will be added to the archives. 

Full details from the English Concert's website.