Singer

The Handel matinee concert by Harry Bicket and The English Concert is one of Carnegie Hall’s most popular annual traditions. Combining exquisite ensemble work, charismatic singers, and an irresistible penchant for theatricality, it’s the perfect way to experience Baroque opera and oratorio in the 21st century. In this anticipated event, hear the first full concert performance of Handel’s Rodelinda at Carnegie Hall in more than 50 years.

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The English Concert

Carnegie Hall

The English Concert, a globe-crossing period instrument orchestra led by conductor Harry Bicket, returns to Los Angeles for a single not-to-be-missed concert performance. This masterpiece of baroque opera is full of brazenly amoral characters doing dastardly deeds. As the men surrounding her plot to take the throne, the grieving queen Rodelinda tries to stay one step ahead of them all, while remaining faithful to the memory of her husband, presumed dead.

Don't worry: Handel’s endlessly inventive score makes sense of it all. It’s one of his greatest operas—and he wrote dozens of them, so that’s saying something.

The English Concert: Rodelinda

Los Angeles Music Center

Britain’s premier early-music ensemble returns in its annual season engagement, for a concert performance of Handel’s masterwork Rodelinda, with star soprano Lucy Crowe in the title role. Among the composer’s greatest achievements, Rodelinda is a story of enduring marital love that remains steadfast through every adversity. Crowe lends her clarion voice to the beloved arias “Ombre, piante” and “Ho perduto il caro sposo,” and riveting countertenor Iestyn Davies fills the shoes of Handel’s star castrato Senesino as the exiled husband Bertarido, with Eric Ferring cast as the lustful and vicious usurper Grimoaldo. The ensemble’s 2021 recording of Rodelinda with Crowe and Davies earned rave reviews across the board: Gramophone praised, “The singing is first-rate, while Harry Bicket has an unerring ear for pacing and instrumental color,” and BBC Music Magazine put it simply, “Harry Bicket has gifted us the best-ever recording of Rodelinda.”

The English Concert Handel’s Rodelinda

University of California, Berkeley

For years, the American Bach Soloists graced Jackson Hall with its stunning rendition of Handel’s Messiah. For this 20th Anniversary season, they return with a Baroque Christmas program packed with the “Christmas portion” from Messiah, as well as lovely works celebrating the season. Recognized worldwide as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Bach and the Baroque, Jeffrey Thomas continues to inspire audiences and performers alike through his keen insights into the passions behind musical expression.

American Bach Soloists

Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

No other Bay Area performances come close to offering the visual, aural, and emotional qualities that have made ABS’s Messiah in Grace Cathedral so superlative.
The finely tuned voices of the American Bach Choir and the polished sheen of sonorities brought by ABS’s period-instrument orchestra soar within the majestic interior of San Francisco’s Nob Hill landmark.
Our annual tradition of performing Handel’s Messiah in San Francisco’s historic Grace Cathedral perennially provides a treasured December holiday event to capacity audiences. A Bay Area holiday tradition now in its 24th year, ABS’s performances of Handel’s timeless work have become an essential part of the musical year for many music lovers and have attracted audiences of more than 50,000 from around the world.

Handel's Messiah in Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral

In this special abridged evening performance, you’ll hear the Christmas portion (Part I) of Handel’s Messiah along with music of the season by Baroque composers Giovanni Valentini, Johann Christoph Pez, and Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
Together with the best highlights of Handel's peerless composition, ABS will perform a sweetly captivating concerto for two "pastorale" recorders, an Italian sinfonia composed especially for Christmas, and an evocative musical painting of Christmas night by one of the most treasured composers of the Parisian Baroque.

A Baroque Christmas

The San Francisco Symphony writes: George Frideric Handel’s Messiah was an instant classic soon after its 1742 premiere and has been a holiday tradition around the world ever since. Through a dramatic series of arias, recitatives, and choruses, Handel offers a musical meditation on Christ’s birth, life, and resurrection—and his message of redemption. Masaaki Suzuki leads the SF Symphony and Chorus in this perennial favorite. 

Handel's Messiah

Davies Symphony Hall

This virtuosic tribute to Antonio Vivaldi, the famous “Red Priest” of Venice, features breathtaking concerti from this pioneer of the genre, colorful arias from a 1735 operatic pastiche, and his beloved setting of the Stabat Mater for solo voice and strings.

Red Priest of Venice

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

In the 1700s Handel took London by storm, penning hit after hit for what we might now consider to be the West End Stage. Theodorahad all the hallmarks of being the next such hit, but circumstance was to intervene—rather improbably in the form of an earthquake which drove much of Handel’s audience from the city. This masterpiece therefore took a little longer to develop—an oratorio that has a different feel than many of his other works—more contemplative, personal and reflective, and with music of great serenity and beauty. It was rumored to be one of the composer’s favorite works, and on hearing its spellbinding arias—brought to life here by countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Thomas Cooley, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and soprano Julie Roset in the title role—we are very sure you’ll leave thinking the sam.

Handel’s Theodora

First Congregational Church

First United Methodist Church

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

In 48 BC, Rome has just taken Egypt. Upon arrival in the country, Julius Caesar finds himself in the midst of a struggle between sibling rulers that begins the destruction of the Roman triumvirate and ends in a great love with Cleopatra, who would become the most successful and beloved ruler in the history of Egypt.
Intense moments of pathos and riotous comedy mixed with some of Handel’s best, most beloved music make Julius Caesar an opera not to be missed.

Julius Caesar

Oakland Scottish Rite Center

The performance will be accompanied by a Symposium discussing the Passion text and religious implications and will include talks by the noted Bach scholar, Michael Marissen, UC Berkeley's Professor Emeritus, Richard Taruskin, and an Introduction and Listener's guide to the work by Harry Gray. The Symposium will culminate in a round table discussion on all aspects of the piece that will include Nicholas McGegan and members of the Cantata Collective. This event is FREE to the public and will be followed by an Instrumental Chamber Concert by Cantata Collective. The Symposium and Concert will take place at St. Clement's Episcoal Church on the afternoon and evening of March 20. The 2022 BACH WEEKEND is generously underwritten by the KAVAH Fund.

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen

Countertenor

Events

Dec 10, 2023

The English Concert · Carnegie Hall

Nov 21, 2023

The English Concert: Rodelinda · LA Opera

Nov 19, 2023

The English Concert Handel’s Rodelinda · Cal Performances

Dec 17, 2022

American Bach Soloists · Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

15 - 16 Dec, 2022

Handel's Messiah in Grace Cathedral · American Bach Soloists

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