Saturday 17 May, 4.30pm
St. John’s, Smith Square
| Elin Manahan Thomas |
soprano
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| Concordia |
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| Mark Levy |
director
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| Concordia |
Elin Manahan Thomas |
Knock’d on the Head
Music from the time of the English Civil War
William Lawes was one of the most powerfully original English composers of the seventeenth century, his music displaying a bold and passionate individuality that matched his cavalier way of life. Far from being among the majority of musicians who at the time of the English Civil War ‘chose rather to fiddle at home, than to goe out, and be knock’d on the head abroad’, he died in battle, fighting for the Royalist cause at the Siege of Chester. Leading English viol consort Concordia performs two of his extraordinary Setts (or Suites) and is joined by rising star Elin Manahan Thomas in show-stopping songs by Lawes and his great successor Henry Purcell. There is also an opportunity to hear a remarkable example of early programme music – John Jenkins’s Newark Siege.
‘The performance is, of course, immaculate with clear articulation
in both voice and instruments … delightful to listen to.’ The Viol
Tickets £15, £12, £9, £6
Stay for Handel’s Rodrigo and save 20%
Special Offer
• A free pre-concert Westminster guided walk with each ticket purchased before 1 April
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Concordia concert (Saturday 17 May) is being recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast in The Early Music Show at 1pm on Sunday 25 May |
Saturday 17 May, 7.30pm
St. John’s, Smith Square
| Gloria Banditelli |
Rodrigo
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| Laura Cherici |
Esilena
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Annamaria dell’Oste
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Florinda |
Leonardo De Lisi
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Giuliano |
| Susanna Ricci |
Evanco |
| Caterina Calvi |
Fernando |
| Ensemble San Felice |
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| Federico Bardazzi |
conductor |
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| Federico Bardazzi |
Gloria Banditelli |
Handel Rodrigo
Premiered in Florence in 1707, Rodrigo, a typical story of affairs of state and heart, was the first opera Handel composed during his youthful stay in Italy – his most urgent creative period, and the time when his distinctive musical style was forged and his reputation made. For many years it was known in incomplete form, and it has only been with the rediscovery of missing arias and recitatives in recent decades that it has re-emerged to take its rightful place in the performing canon of one of the greatest of all operatic geniuses. This semi-staged production, given in Alan Curtis’s reconstructed performing edition and featuring the Florentine Ensemble San Felice and an exciting all-Italian cast, offers what is still a surprisingly rare chance to hear one of the most vivid and glittering of Handel’s early works.
‘Although Professor Bardazzi and the Ensemble San Felice are
to be roundly applauded for the exuberant performances … their
most significant achievement is the meticulous approach evident
with regard to musical authenticity.’ CD Review
Tickets £30, £24, £18, £12
Special Offers
• A free glass of French or Italian wine with each top or second price ticket
purchased before 1 April
• Buy 2 or more top price tickets
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