Ensemble Serse

Sunday, 7 March 2010

Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, W1

To purchase tickets from the London Handel Festival please click here

OPTION A) £12 Pre-Concert Talk + Concert (Concessions Available)
OPTION B) £40 Pre-Concert Talk + Concert + Champagne Reception (In aid of fundraising)

16:30 - 17:00 Pre-Concert Talk by Antony Lias (Editor Opera Britannia)
17:00 - 18:00 Concert
18:15 - 19:45 Champagne Reception (Chapel Vestry)

Handel's extraordinary setting of the pastoral cantata Aminte e Fillide depicts the struggle between sensuality and spirituality through music of such beauty and clarity that the composer himself would return to it again and again.

Aminta e Fillide was originally performed in Rome in 1707 by unknown performers. However, it was revived in an enhanced version for prince Ruspoli for a special Sunday conversazione (evening concerts) at the Academy of Arcadia in July 1708. For this occasion Handel  augmented the size of the ensemble and also composed two new arias, one each for Aminta and Fillide.

The shepherd Aminta’s wooing of the initially reluctant nymph Fillide is portrayed through a series of superb arias which lead inexorably to an ecstatic love duet. One of the astonishing features of this work is Aminta’s startling interruption of the sinfonia, which depicts the flight of Fillide. Handel's subtle variation of Affekt reveals a skilfully composed work varying in invention that demonstrates his experimentation with and perversion of form and harmony. Further indication of the high quality of this work is seen in Handel's having inserted several of the arias from this work in later operas.

Ensemble Serse, critically acclaimed for their "scintillating" and "risk taking" performances of Hasse's operas Il Siroe and Artaserse, bring their distinctive "vocal pyrotechnics and extreme beauty" to a cantata that fully displays the remarkable palette of the young Handel. 

Aminta - Calvin Wells; Male Soprano                                                                                                         Fillide - Charlotte Stephenson; Mezzo-Soprano  

Musical Director & Cello Continuo - Christopher Suckling                                                                     Violin 1 - Oliver Webber                                                                                                                                 Violin 2 - Julia Black                                                                                                                                           Violin 3 - Ellen O'Dell                                                                                                                                         Harpsichord - Erik Dippenaar