Alexander's Feast

June 17, 2018 | 3:00pm
 

Pealer Recital Hall
Frostburg State University
Frostburg, MD

Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, a brilliant setting on an ode of John Dryden, “Alexander’s Feast,” or, “The Power of Music,” was first performed on February19, 1736, at Covent Garden. It quickly became one of Handel’s favorite oratorios and was revised and performed 25 times over the next twenty year. Handel was known to freely revise works for specific performances and this work is no exception. Mountainside Baroque’s performance will feature a version from 1751 which includes a few more added vocal solo pieces, reflecting Handel’s later thinking as well as the popularity of the new-fangled oratorio in English.

This Festival performance will combine all the professional forces seen earlier in the week. Soloists and orchestra members from TENET, The Newberry Consort, The Washington Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, and Hammerklavier, as well as additional soloists, and Mountainside’s resident choir, the Scholars of St. Cecilia, will combine forces for this gala performance in the Pealer Recital Hall at Frostburg State University.