Current Program Offerings

 

Virtuosi Italiani: The Florid Style of Monteverdi and Handel
Two of the greatest composers of the flamboyant Baroque style were Monteverdi and Handel. Though separated by a more than a century, both composers clearly reveled in writing for the soprano voice. Handel was greatly influenced by the Italian operatic tradition begun by Monteverdi and his contemporaries. This program includes Handel’s tour de force duet “Non, di voi non vo fidarmi” (whose themes Handel later borrowed for several Messiah choruses) and the luscious final duet from Monteverdi’s opera L’incoronazi di Poppea.

L’Angoisse et L’extase: The French Baroque
This program explores the passionate and sensual music of the French Baroque, with sacred and secular works by Couperin and Charpentier. The centerpiece of this program is François Couperin’s masterpiece for two sopranos, the Troisième Leçon de Ténèbres Pour le Mercredi Saint, an exquisite setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah written in 1714 for the abbey of Longchamps.