Harry Bicket celebrates 10 years with The English Concert in a star-studded 2017/18 season including Lucy Crowe, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Iestyn Davies and Andreas Scholl

“Next March comes Rinaldo. Book now” The Independent, 5* review of Ariodante, 2017

Harry Bicket celebrates 10 years as Artistic Director of The English Concert with a star-studded 2017/18 season featuring Iestyn Davies, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Lucy Crowe, and Andreas Scholl. The English Concert continue their annual Handel opera-in-concert series this year with Rinaldo. Starring Iestyn Davies, Rinaldo travels to Sevilla, Madrid, London and New York. Following the success of Tom Morris’ Messiah in Bristol, the co-production is revived at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall (with the Erebus Ensemble) in spring 2018. Kristian Bezuidenhout has been announced as The English Concert’s new Principal Guest Director, exploring not only classical keyboard works, but chamber music as well. “The prospect of working in closer collaboration with The English Concert as their Principal Guest Director fills me with great excitement: what an enormous honour it will be to explore this extraordinary repertoire together” Kristian Bezuidenhout Harry Bicket joined The English Concert as their Artistic Director in 2007, following founder Trevor Pinnock and his successor Andrew Manze. In that time the orchestra has gone from strength to strength, harnessing Bicket’s extensive operatic experience and forging a long-term association with New York’s Carnegie Hall to present an annual Handel opera-in-concert. Previous years have seen performances of Alcina, Theodora, Radamisto, Orlando and Hercules with top soloists Joyce

DiDonato, Sarah Connolly and Iestyn Davies. After their acclaimed performances of Ariodante last season, the orchestra takes their latest offering, Rinaldo, to Sevilla, Madrid, London, and of course New York in March 2018. Iestyn Davies appears in the title role, joined by Jane Archibald, Sasha Cooke, Joélle Harvey, Jakub Jozef Orlinski and Luca Pisaroni. “The young composer uses everything in his compositional arsenal to charm and delight; it is no coincidence this was his big arrival piece in London in 1711. The highlight for me is the chance to sing Cara sposa, an aria that even Handel himself claimed was the greatest he ever wrote. I can’t wait to work on this piece again with Harry Bicket and The English Concert” Iestyn Davies Such operatic credentials are brought to the revival of Tom Morris’ staging of Handel’s Messiah (originally performed at Bristol Old Vic last season) which travels to Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on 29 March 2018. “I felt an active part of the events unfolding in front, above and around me. Perhaps the cheers and whoops at the end suggested others felt that way too”. The Times Watch Harry Bicket on the relationship between Mr Handel and The English Concert in this video: New Principal Guest Director Kristian Bezuidenhout opens The English Concert’s 2017/18 season at the Wigmore Hall on 14 September with a programme of Haydn, Mozart and CPE Bach (also at the Rye Arts Festival on 16 September), and returns later in the season to perform Handel, Telemann, and Bach’s D minor harpsichord concerto at Kings Place. “Steered along by Bezuidenhout’s darting looks and the firm knowledge that The English Concert players would never knock themselves off course” The Times

Lucy Crowe joins The English Concert for Bach’s monumental B Minor Mass for the Bath Bach Festival in February 2018 alongside Anna Harvey, Nick Pritchard and Ashley Riches. Crowe’s début recording Il Caro Sassone, a disc of Handel arias made with the ensemble and Harry Bicket in 2011, was greeted with critical acclaim: “Crowe’s delectable singing is complemented by fresh rhythmically buoyant and, where needed, virtuoso playing from The English Concert” (Gramophone). An all-Mozart programme brings the orchestra and Crowe together once again at Milton Court in London, and The Brewhouse in Taunton, during October 2017. Here, The English Concert’s leader Nadja Zwiener is also in action in Mozart’s final violin concerto. Appointed by Harry Bicket, Zwiener similarly celebrates her 10th anniversary with the orchestra, featuring as a soloist throughout the year alongside her fellow principal musicians and on a forthcoming disc due for release next year.

In addition to their busy touring schedule, The English Concert appear at the Wigmore Hall a further three times this season: firstly, on 29 November with collaborators Robert Quinney and The Choir of New College Oxford in music by Blow, Purcell and Handel, and secondly in a more reflective programme dedicated to Buxtehude on 8 February with soprano Dorothee Mields and gambist Jonathan Manson. Nadja Zwiener appears as soloist once more on 19 April as the orchestra take in the treasures of Versailles (Rameau), Venice (Tartini), Zelenka (Dresden), and London (Arne) on

their ‘European Grand Tour’. The London season also sees the orchestra make their Kings Place début on 6 December in an intimate sonata-filled programme of Corelli, Matteis, Biber and Purcell with Nadja Zwiener, Tuomo Suni, Emilia Benjamin and Tom Foster. A tour to South Korea with acclaimed German countertenor Andreas Scholl draws 2017/18 to a close. After their celebration of Shakespeare in East Asia last season with Tim Mead and Mary Bevan, The English Concert appear in Seoul, Daejeon and Taiwan following a UK performance at Saffron Hall next May with music by some of England’s greatest cultural exports, Purcell, Avison and Handel.

SUMMER 2017 9-20 July 2017 | Buxton Opera House, Buxton Mozart Lucio Silla The English Concert Laurence Cummings director Joshua Ellicott Lucio Silla Fflur Wyn Celia Rebecca Bottone Giunia Madeleine Pierard Cecilio Karolina Plicková Lucio Cinna Ben Thapa Aufidio

11 July 2017 | St John’s Church, Buxton The English Concert Nadja Zwiener violin Lisa Beznosiuk flute Alfonso Leal del Ojo viola Joseph Crouch cello Haydn Trio for flute, violin and cello Op. 11, No. 5 Schubert String Trio in Bb D471 Mozart Flute Quartet in C, K285b JC Bach Flute Quartet in C, WB58 Mozart Adagio and Fugue K404 (after Bach) Mozart Flute Quartet in D, K285

SEASON 2017 - 2018

14 September 2017 | Wigmore Hall, London 16 September 2017 | St. Mary’s Church, Rye The English Concert Kristian Bezuidenhout director/fortepiano Haydn Symphony No. 39 in G minor, Hob. I:39 Mozart Piano Concerto in C major, K415 CPE Bach Sinfonia in B minor, Wq. 182/5 Mozart Symphony No. 33 in B-flat major, K319 25 October 2017 | Milton Court, London 26 October 2017 | The Brewhouse, Taunton The English Concert Harry Bicket director/harpsichord/organ Lucy Crowe soprano Nadja Zwiener violin

Mozart Divertimento in D K136 Mozart Al Destin (Mitridate) Mozart Ruhe sanft (Zaide) Mozart Ah, se il crudel (Lucio Silla) Mozart Et incarnatus est Mozart Violin Concerto in A K219 Mozart Exsultate Jubilate 29 November 2017 | Wigmore Hall, London The English Concert Robert Quinney director/harpsichord/organ The Choir of New College Oxford Blow Chaconne Blow O sing unto the Lord Purcell Chacony in G minor Z. 730 Purcell Welcome to all the pleasures Z. 339 Handel Organ Concerto in F Op. 4, No. 4 HWV 292 Bach Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229 Bach Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 116

6 December 2017 | Kings Place, London The English Concert Nadja Zwiener violin Tuomo Suni violin Emilia Benjamin viola da gamba Tom Foster harpsichord/organ Corelli Trio sonata in F Op. 3, No. 1 Matteis Prelude for solo violin in A Biber ‘The Annunciation’, Sonata No. 1 in D minor from Rosary Sonatas Purcell Trio sonata No. 3 in D minor Z. 792 Biber Partita VI in D from Harmonia Artificiosa Simpson Division for viola da gamba in E minor Purcell Sonata No. 3 in D minor Z. 792 Biber ‘The Nativity’, Sonata No. 3 in B minor from Rosary Sonatas Rosenmüller Sonata No. 2 in E minor Corelli Trio Sonata in A Op. 3, No. 12 8 February 2018 | Wigmore Hall, London The English Concert Harry Bicket director/organ Dorothee Mields soprano Nadja Zwiener violin Jonathan Manson viola da gamba Featuring cantatas and chamber music including: Buxtehude Also hat Gott die Welt geliebet BuxWV 5 Buxtehude Sonata C major BuxWV 266 Buxtehude Herr, auf Dich traue ich BuxWV 35 Buxtehude Trio sonata in D BuxWV 267 Buxtehude O fröhliche Stunden BuxWV 84

24 February 2018 | Bath Abbey, Bath Bath Bach Festival The English Concert The Erebus Ensemble Harry Bicket director/harpsichord/organ Lucy Crowe soprano Anna Harvey alto Nicholas Pritchard tenor Ashley Riches bass-baritone Bach – B Minor Mass BWV 232 10 – 25 March 2018 | Rinaldo Tour 10 March | Teatro de la Maestranza, Sevilla* 11 March | Auditorio Nacional de Musica, Madrid 13 March | Barbican, London 25 March | Carnegie Hall, New York The English Concert Harry Bicket director/harpsichord Iestyn Davies Rinaldo Xavier Sabata Rinaldo (*Sevilla only) Jane Archibald Armida Sasha Cooke Goffredo Joélle Harvey Almirena Jakub Jozef Orlinski Eustazio Luca Pisaroni Argante Handel Rinaldo 29 March 2018 | Bridgewater Hall, Manchester The English Concert The Erebus Ensemble Tom Morris director Susanna Hurrell soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers alto Robert Murray tenor Marcus Farnsworth bass Handel Messiah

19 April 2018 | Wigmore Hall, London The English Concert Harry Bicket director/harpsichord Nadja Zwiener violin Arne Overture to The Judgement of Paris Rameau Suite from Les fêtes de l'Hymen et de l'Amour Tartini Violin Concerto in B minor, D. 125 ("Lascia ch'io dica addio") Zelenka Simphonie a 8 ZWV 189

14 May 2018 | Kings Place, London The English Concert Kristian Bezuidenhout director/harpsichord Handel Trio Sonata in G Op. 5, No. 4, HWV 399 Telemann Sonata a 6 in G minor, TWV 44:33 Telemann Suite in E minor (from Tafelmusik Suite No. 1 TWV 55:E1 and Paris Quartet TWV 43:E4) Bach Contrapunctus 14 from The Art of Fugue BWV 1080 Bach Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV 1052 Telemann ‘Wassermusik’ Suite in C TWV 55:C3 (‘Hamburger Ebb und Fluth’)

25 May 2018 – 17 June 2018 | South Korean Tour 25 May | Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, 13 June | Daejeon 15 June | Seoul 16 June | Seoul 18 June | Taiwan The English Concert Andreas Scholl countertenor Purcell Sound the trumpet from Birthday Ode for Queen Mary Purcell Airs and Dances from King Arthur Avison Concerto Grosso No. 9 in C (after Domenico Scarlatti) Purcell Trumpet Sonata Handel Eternal source of light divine from Birthday Ode for Queen Anne

The English Concert & Harry Bicket

We love music of the baroque and classical periods, and we believe that through our performances on original instruments, with styles of playing and singing appropriate to a composer or period, we can get to the essential core of the music. With our international group of close-knit musicians, many of whom are soloists in their own right, anything is possible. “Each instrumentalist played as though personally responsible for the entire show, wringing out every ounce of drama: at one point during Act II, the cellos unleashed such a torrent of fury that they threatened to upstage the cast.” Financial Times Just because we have an enviable reputation, established since our foundation in 1973 with Trevor Pinnock, does not mean we rest on our laurels. Indeed, whether led by our Artistic Director Harry Bicket, or guests such as our newly appointed Principal Guest Director and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, we always strive for excellence. “Harry Bicket and his English Concert chamber orchestra, held Carnegie Hall’s audience in thrall for nearly nine minutes as she [Joyce DiDonato] wrung every bit of emotion from this music.” New York Times But it is not just about our award-winning discography, or who we have worked with, it is about reaching the audience and making music together. This is why we are always on the look-out for exciting new opportunities and new ways to tell a story, whether we are working with the likes of Tom Morris to stage Handel’s Messiah, bringing its emotional and dramatic essence to the fore, or interacting in a more intimate way in Shakespeare’s Globe or the Wanamaker Playhouse. “Through it all, Bicket and The English Concert were nothing short of brilliant. Sporting perfectly tight ensemble, spacious and ringing tone, a variety of colors, gleaming strings and clean, forceful brass, they are the model of a period chamber orchestra in every sense.” New York Classical ReviewCentral to our activities is our flourishing commission from Carnegie Hall to present one Handel opera-in-concert each year. Starting with

Radamisto in 2013, subsequent performances of Theodora, Alcina, Hercules, Orlando, and most recently Ariodante, have seen the orchestra in major concert halls across Europe and the US, alongside Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels and Sarah Connolly. This season, Iestyn Davies appears in the title role of Rinaldo.

“Bicket's band is in its element in this repertoire” Sunday Times

“Primed and polished over a sequence of concert performances in New

York, Vienna and Hamburg, Harry Bicket and The English Concert’s Ariodante was fuelled by female energy”

The Times – 5* review of Ariodante, 2017

“a performance so stunning it was liable to make even the most jaded of early-music skeptics take note.”

New York Classical Review – review of Ariodante, 2017

“A superb performance that left the audience glowing with pleasure. Unobtrusively yet firmly overseen by Harry Bicket, leading the spritely

English Concert from the harpsichord, it was staged in bare, uncostumed concert form.”

Telegraph - 5* review of Orlando, 2016 “The choir and orchestra of The English Concert were on impeccable form

under Bicket, with high-definition articulation and tonal quality underlying everything they did”

The Guardian – 5*review of Hercules, 2015

www.englishconcert.co.uk

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