{"id":837,"date":"2013-01-19T10:18:23","date_gmt":"2013-01-19T10:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=837"},"modified":"2013-01-19T10:18:23","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T10:18:23","slug":"the-english-concert-and-les-talens-lyriques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=837","title":{"rendered":"The English Concert and Les Talens Lyriques"},"content":{"rendered":"

Handel Radamisto<\/em> \u2013 10 February 2013, 6:30pm
\nLully Pha\u00ebton<\/em> \u2013 8 March 2013, 7pm<\/strong>
\nBarbican Centre, London, UK<\/p>\n

Renowned for its commitment to historically-informed performances of Baroque music, the Barbican\u2019s classical music season in Spring 2013 features two of the finest interpreters of the Baroque and Classical music repertoire: The English Concert <\/strong>with Artistic Director Harry Bicket<\/strong>; and Les Talens Lyriques<\/strong>, under the directorship of Christophe Rousset<\/strong>. Both present concert performances of lesser-known gems of the operatic repertoire, with a prestigious cast of singers.<\/p>\n

On 10 February<\/strong>, Harry Bicket <\/strong>conducts The English Concert<\/strong> in a rare UK performance of Handel\u2019s Radamisto<\/em>. The story of desire, dictatorship and personal infatuation at the court of the Armenian King Tiridate is the first of a collection of operas that Handel wrote for the newly-founded Royal Academy of Music. Despite being given its premiere at the King\u2019s Theatre, London in 1720, modern revivals have been reasonably scarce, something The English Concert is rectifying; Radamisto <\/em>forms the main focus of its current season.
\nRecognised as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world and celebrated for its inspiring performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire, The English Concert<\/strong> celebrates its 40th<\/sup> anniversary in 2013. The Barbican performance will see the ensemble joined by a stellar cast of regular collaborators including the American counter-tenor David Daniels <\/strong>in the title role of Radamisto, English soprano Elizabeth Watts, <\/strong>as well as Patricia Bardon, Luca Pisaroni<\/strong> and Brenda Rae<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The following month, distinguished French conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset<\/strong> and his Baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques<\/strong> continue their exploration of forgotten masterpieces with a fresh interpretation and first UK performance<\/strong> of Lully\u2019s Pha\u00ebton \u2013 <\/em><\/strong>the story of the son of Helios, the Sun God (8 March<\/strong>).
\nLully composed Pha\u00ebton<\/em> when he was fifty years old, at the height of his fame and the peak of his abilities. He was commissioned by Louis XIV (the Sun King) to establish French Opera at the Palace of Versailles and this allegorical tale of the upstart hero Pha\u00ebton enjoyed great success at its premiere in January 1683, with following performances including the first opera to be performed in Avignon (1687), at the original Op\u00e9ra de Lyon (1688) and Rouen (1689). Originally conceived as a theatre work, Pha\u00ebton<\/em> is characterised by the variety of its musical language, splendid choral passages, and increasingly colourful orchestral writing.<\/em>
\nChristophe Rousset has a special affinity with Lully and his exciting performances have done much to revive appreciation of this influential composer. In the UK premiere at the Barbican, he champions this revival of Lully\u2019s trag\u00e9die lyrique<\/em> with a cast that includes Emiliano Gonzalez Toro <\/strong>, Ingrid Perruche<\/strong>, Isabelle Druet<\/strong>, Sophie Bevan<\/strong>, Andrew Foster-Williams<\/strong>, Matthew Brook <\/strong>and Beno\u00eet Arnould.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Handel Radamisto \u2013 10 February 2013, 6:30pm Lully Pha\u00ebton \u2013 8 March 2013, 7pm Barbican Centre, London, UK Renowned for its commitment to historically-informed performances of Baroque music, the Barbican\u2019s classical music season in Spring 2013 features two of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":838,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions\/838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}