Handel’s The Power of Music
Fresh off his 2025 London Proms success with the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Music Director Peter Whelan opens the 2026/27 subscription season with Handel’s Alexander’s Feast. Centered on a banquet honoring Alexander the Great, the poet Timotheus uses song to guide the room from pride to tenderness, from fury to reflection — a demonstration of music’s power to shape emotion and action.
Concert Highlights
- The concert features the 1742 Dublin version, performed in Ireland just weeks before the world premiere of Messiah.
- The work serves as a major showcase for the soloists and Philharmonia Chorale, with arias, ensembles, and choruses that move the drama forward.
- Handel contrasts ceremonial brilliance with intimate reflection, including music for trumpet and drums alongside lyrical writing for voices and strings.
- Philharmonia performs on period instruments, so you can hear the music much as audiences did in Handel’s time.
Performances
November 11 — Bing Concert Hall, Stanford
November 13 — Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
November 14 — First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Berkeley
(Check organizer/venue website to confirm event details.)
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