The English Concert embark on a tour of Handel’s Orlando in February to London, Birmingham,

Amsterdam, Vienna and New York 50 years after the opera’s UK revival

Handel’s Orlando Tour 24 February 2016 – Theater an der Wien, Vienna

26 February 2016 – Town Hall, Birmingham 1 March 2016 – Barbican, London

7 March 2016 – Concertgebouw, Amsterdam 13 March 2016 – Carnegie Hall, New York

The English Concert

The Choir of The English Concert Harry Bicket director/harpsichord

Iestyn Davies Orlando Carolyn Sampson Dorinda

Erin Morley Angelica Kyle Ketelsen Zoroastro

Sasha Cooke Medoro Artistic Director Harry Bicket and The English Concert embark on an international tour of Handel’s Orlando in February and March 2016 alongside Iestyn Davies and Carolyn Sampson. The tour begins at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien and subsequently goes to Birmingham Town Hall, London’s Barbican, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and New York’s Carnegie Hall. The cast also includes Erin Morley as Angelica, Kyle Ketelsen as Zoroastro, and Sasha Cooke as Medoro. Davies performs with the ensemble for the third time this season following two sold out recitals at Wigmore Hall, which the Independent called “a flawless evening” and the Guardian noted the “finely focused playing” from The English Concert.

“With the 17 players of The English Concert displaying their superb Baroque credentials in every bar, Davies was afforded the perfect

support required to allow his glorious voice to soar” MusicOMH – Wigmore Hall with Iestyn Davies, 2015

 

Handel’s Orlando, a torrid tale of entangled love, madness and magic, was composed for the great castrato Senesino who premiered the opera at the King’s Theatre in London in 1733. It was followed by only 10 further performances, perhaps due to the frantic rivalry between London’s competing opera companies. The English Concert’s tour of Orlando on both sides of the Atlantic will take place 50 years after the UK revival of Handel’s masterpiece, which was performed in Birmingham in 1966. “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 - Handel’s Hercules, 2015 Last season saw the ensemble take Handel’s Alcina to London, Madrid, Pamplona, Vienna, Paris and New York – a hugely successful tour which was praised by the New York Times, writing; “The Ovations were enormous. The audience seemed not just excited but also grateful”. The New York Times picked the ensemble’s performance of Alcina at Carnegie Hall as one of the top 10 classical events of 2014. The English Concert have a long-term association with Carnegie Hall which sees them return each season to critical acclaim.

Other highlights of 2015/2016 Season 20 March 2016 Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden The English Concert Harry Bicket director/harpsichord Nadja Zwiener violin Katharina Spreckelsen oboe Anna Devin soprano Robin Blaze countertenor Scarlatti Sinfonia from cantata ‘I dolori di Maria sempre vergine’ Vivaldi Violin Concerto ‘Per la santissima Assunzione di Maria Vergine’ Albinoni Oboe Concerto Op.9, No.2 Vivaldi Sinfonia from ‘Al santo Sepolcro’ Pergolesi Stabat Mater 23 March 2016 Wigmore Hall The English Concert Harry Bicket director/harpsichord/organ

Ann Hallenberg mezzo-soprano Nadja Zwiener violin Katharina Spreckelsen oboe Giovanni Battista Ferrandini Il Pianto di Maria Scarlatti Sinfonia from cantata ‘I dolori di Maria sempre vergine’ Vivaldi Violin Concerto ‘Per la santissima Assunzione di Maria Vergine’ Albinoni Oboe Concerto Op.9, No.2 Vivaldi Sinfonia ‘Al santo Sepolcro’ 26 April 2016 Wigmore Hall The English Concert Christian Curnyn director/harpsichord Marais Suite from Alcione Haydn Symphony No. 44 ‘Trauer’ Rameau Suite from Les Boréades Mozart Symphony No. 29 in A

 

The English Concert & Harry Bicket

Internationally renowned as an opera and concert conductor of distinction, Harry Bicket is especially noted for his interpretation of Baroque and Classical repertoire, and became Artistic Director of The English Concert in 2007, one of the UK’s finest chamber orchestras. He was also appointed Chief Conductor of Santa Fe Opera in 2013 and opened the 2014 season with a critically acclaimed Fidelio. Born in Liverpool, he studied at the Royal College of Music and Oxford University and is an accomplished harpsichordist.

International performances of Alcina and Hercules follow a series of successful tours for The English Concert with Harry Bicket and other critically acclaimed artists. Recent highlights include European and US tours with Alice Coote, Sara Mingardo, Anna Caterina Antonacci, David Daniels and Andreas Scholl and the orchestra’s first tour to mainland China. Harry Bicket directed The English Concert and Choir in Bach’s Mass in B minor at the 2012 Leipzig Bachfest and later that year at the BBC Proms, a performance that was televised for BBC 4. Theodora followed Radamisto in early 2014, which toured the West Coast of the USA as well as Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris and The Barbican, London. The English Concert's discography includes more than 100 recordings with Trevor Pinnock for Deutsche Grammophon Archiv, and a series of critically acclaimed CDs for Harmonia Mundi with violinist Andrew Manze. Recordings with Harry Bicket have been widely praised, including Lucy Crowe’s début solo recital, Il caro Sassone. In October 2013, EMI Classics released Sound the Trumpet, a recording of Baroque music for trumpet with Alison Balsom and The English Concert directed by Trevor Pinnock. The English Concert was created by Trevor Pinnock in 1973. Since Bicket’s appointment as Artistic Director, The English Concert has collaborated with singers such as Lucy Crowe, Elizabeth Watts, Alice Coote, Danielle de Niese and Sarah Connolly. The English Concert’s 2014/15 season sees the orchestra bringing their unsurpassed reputation for inspiring performances of Baroque and Classical music to audiences for the 41st year running.

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