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.