27th February 2010 7.30pm
St John's, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HA
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'musical tears'
sacred music by Carissimi and Charpentier
Marc-Antoine Charpentier Magnificat à 3
Marc-Antoine Charpentier Messe des morts
Marc-Antoine Charpentier Le Reniement de St Pierre
Giacomo Carissimi Mass for 3 male voices
Giacomo Carissimi Historia di Jephte
Solomon Consort, directed by Jonathan Sells
With just six singers, three viols, a flute and organ, for this concert the Solomons will scale down to their most intimate yet. Charpentier studied with Carissimi in Rome, and here we are not only putting their liturgical music side by side (including settings for a rather unusual combination of voices), but also documenting the adoption of the small-scale dramatic cantata, or mini-oratorio, by Charpentier on Carissimi's model. The rarefied, luxurious and exotic world of the French baroque is placed alongside the somewhat crisper Italian style, through these two composers who are so strongly linked.
5th December 2009 7pm
Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge
GF Handel ~ Messiah HWV56
By popular acclaim, the Solomon Choir & Orchestra will return this December to Cambridge for its trademark performance of Messiah. Not an experience to be missed, this year the soloists will all be drawn from the magnificent choir. Here's a quote from a member of last year's audience:
"electric!"
With thanks to www.cambridgedirectory.co.uk
21st November 2009 7.30pm
Grosvenor Chapel, London W1K 2PA
'From harmony, from heav'nly harmony'
Odes for St Cecilia's Day
Henry PURCELL ~ Welcome to all the pleasures that delight Z339 (1683)
Giovanni Battista DRAGHI ~ From harmony, heavn'ly harmony (1687)
George Frederic HANDEL ~ Ode for St Cecilia's Day HWV76 (1739)
Solomon Choir & Orchestra, conductor Jonathan Sells
For the closing of their triennial conference, the Handel Institute have invited the Solomon Choir & Orchestra to perform an entertainment in the spirit of the festivities that were presented in the City by the Society of Gentlemen Lovers of Musick. Draghi's large-scale work took the tradition onto the level of the court ode, and composers such as Blow and Purcell subsequently followed suit with grand offerings. Handel set Dryden's wonderful text (which incorporates concepts of the music of the spheres, the influence of music on the passions, and practical music theory) 56 years after Draghi, for a performance on St Cecilia's Day 280 years ago.
Our guest soprano soloist for the Handel will be Anna Devin. The other soloists will be drawn from the choir, and will include Christopher Lowrey, John McMunn, Julian Forbes and Jonathan Sells.
