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Home , Ailish Tynan, Brenda Rae, Christian Curnyn, Christophe Rousset, Harry Bicket, Hercules (Handel)

Handel’s

George Frideric Handel / Composer

The English Concert / Director and

Brenda Rae / Soprano (Semele) Elizabeth DeShong / Mezzo-soprano (Juno/Ino) Benjamin Hulett / (Jupiter) Soloman Howard / (/Somnus) Ailish Tynan / Soprano (Iris) Christopher Lowrey / ()

The Clarion Steven Fox / Artistic Director Brian Giebler / Tenor (Apollo) Joseph Beutel / Bass-baritone (Priest)

Friday Evening, April 12, 2019 at 7:30 Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor

46th Performance of the 140th Annual Season 140th Annual Choral Union Series This evening’s performance is supported by the William R. Kinney Endowment Fund and Jim Toy. Media partnership provided by WGTE 91.3 FM, WRCJ 90.9 FM, and Between the Lines. Special thanks to Tom Thompson of Tom Thompson Flowers, Ann Arbor, for his generous contribution of lobby floral art for this evening’s concert. The edition of Semele used in tonight’s performance is published by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel. By arrangement with Faber Music Ltd, . In consideration of the artists and the audience, please refrain from the use of electronic devices during the performance. The photography, sound recording, or videotaping of this performance is prohibited. PROGRAM

George Frideric Handel Semele

Act I

Intermission

Act II

Intermission

Act III

This evening’s performance is approximately three and a half hours in duration, including two intermissions.

3 SEMELE (1743)

George Frideric Handel Born February 23, 1685 in Halle, Germany Died April 14, 1759 in London

UMS premiere: This has never been performed under UMS auspices.

Snapshots of History…In 1743: · Thomas Jefferson is born · Coordinated scientific observations of the transit of the planet Mercury are organized by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle · Henry Pelham becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain

It was no small surprise for the originally penned it in back in 1706 for audience when Handel presented his composer (1668–1735), newest work, The Story of Semele, whose setting was never performed. at on February 10, The text was revised for Handel, with 1744. After the end of his career as a some additional numbers added composer of Italian , Handel by contemporary poets, including turned to sacred in English, Alexander Pope (1688–1744). producing (1741) and The plot, which drew on Book III (1742). London musical circles of Ovid’s , revolves expected him to continue working in around the hubris of a mortal woman that genre, especially since he had who must pay for her boundless adamantly refused to collaborate with ambition with her life. Semele, the an opera company that had been daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes, actively courting him. Handel’s new is in love with Jupiter (). Spurning work was presented as an , her official fiancé, Athamas (with without staging, but few people were whom her sister Ino is in love), she lets fooled as to its operatic nature. The herself be whisked away by the king of mythological (as opposed to Biblical) the gods to a heavenly abode where subject and the virtuoso singing style she enjoys “endless pleasure,” as she immediately gave The Story of Semele sings in one of her celebrated arias. away. The frank sensuality of William Yet it is not long before Juno (), Congreve’s and of Handel’s Jupiter’s long-suffering wife, learns of music only added fuel to the fire. the affair and vows terrible revenge. It Semele was given just six times: there takes an elaborate ruse to disrupt the were four performances in February great love between these two unequal and two more in December 1744. partners, but Juno immediately finds The work was never revived during Semele’s weak point: the mortal Handel’s lifetime. woman’s sense of inferiority, which she The libretto was not written for compensates for by being extremely Handel; Congreve (1670–1729) had demanding of her divine lover. Juno

4 wins Semele’s confidence by taking stage death is one of the most heart- on Ino’s shape and, as her false sister, wrenching death scenes in all opera. gives her fatal advice: Semele should Handel employed a whole gamut first make Jupiter swear that he would of musical devices to render such grant her wish, whatever it may be, and diverse emotions. Some of these then tell him to show himself in his true devices form part of the general form as the god of thunder. Juno and vocabulary of opera seria, which Jupiter both know that Semele will be Handel had practiced for over 30 years struck dead by his splendor that no before writing Semele. The “da capo” mortal can withstand, but bound by his aria form, in which the opening music oath, Jupiter must grant Semele’s wish, returns after a contrasting middle causing Semele’s immediate demise. section, has the built-in capacity to At the time of her death, she was express two complementary states pregnant with Jupiter’s child, whom of mind. The many dance forms we the god managed to save. That child is encounter in the score (gavotte, none other than (Bacchus), hornpipe, siciliana, etc.) all come with the god of wine — making Semele the their own connotations (happy or sad) only mortal woman in with which the audience was familiar; to have a god for an offspring. they served as important orientation Supreme musical dramatist that he points indicating what was happening was, Handel portrayed the dramatis in the plot at any given moment. But personae in a highly nuanced way, in Semele, Handel went far beyond with profound psychological insight. these standard elements. He was Every character is multidimensional: particularly attentive to dynamics, even Athamas, whose part is relatively using the marking pianissimo, not very minor, can, in one second, plunge often found in scores of the period, “from love, from hope...in deep on more than one occasion. He used despair.” Semele’s sister Ino is a many astonishing “special effects” forsaken lover in Act I and, in Act II, a to depict the forces of nature or wide-eyed traveler between worlds as supernatural events of many kinds. an unwitting yet happy tool of Juno’s And last but not least, he introduced revenge. Jupiter, the fearsome thunder ensembles — vocal numbers for more god, is at the same time a lover who than one singer — which are rather is put on the defensive by the highly untypical in opera seria. There are assertive Semele, and even reaches three duets in Semele: the first (Act the limits of his own omnipotence I) between Ino and Athamas, in which when he realizes that he is bound by the young man tries in vain to assuage his oath and cannot avoid the tragic the heartbroken girl; the second (Act outcome. Hera is able to place an II) between Semele and Ino, where impressive emotional range, from fury the sisters marvel at the wonders to feigned kindness to exuberant joy, of Zeus’s heavenly abode; and the in the service of her obsession with third (Act III) between Juno and the revenge. The title character, the most slumber-god Somnus, aroused much complex of all, is despondent, exultant, against his will to be pressed into menacing, seductive, and her on- service for Juno’s revenge. And most

5 unusually, there is a quartet in Act I, where an unexpected situation — Ino’s confession that she is in love with her sister’s fiancé — elicits four simultaneous reactions from the four people present (King Cadmus, Semele, Ino, and Athamas), almost as in later operatic practice. Several excerpts from Semele (such as Juno’s “Hence, Iris, hence away” or Jupiter’s “Where’er you walk”) have become popular recital items, but they only take their full meaning if they are left in their original context. It is only then that we realize how carefully Handel planned the dramatic function of every single detail in this fascinating score.

Program notes by Peter Laki.

6 SYNOPSIS

ACT I Scene 1. King Cadmus and the people Juno will order to put the dragons to of Thebes are getting ready to sleep. celebrate the wedding of Cadmus’s daughter Semele to the young Prince Scene 2. Semele, surrounded by Athamas. Juno has already accepted gentle “Loves and Zephyrs” in the the ritual sacrifice, but a scandal palace that Jupiter has given her, breaks out: Semele refuses to go wakes up to find that her lover is not through with the wedding, and her there. sister Ino announces that she is in love with the groom. The sacrificial fire Scene 3. Jupiter enters. Semele is extinguished, signaling that Jupiter, reproaches him for being absent. for his part, has rejected the sacrifice. Jupiter defends himself by saying that he was there even if Semele Scene 2. Ino voices her distress at didn’t see him: “While Love was with being spurned by Athamas, who is thee, I was present; Love and I are helpless to assuage her sorrow. one.” Semele immediately retorts that “not you alone but Love and I Scene 3. Cadmus relates how Semele are one” — thus claiming to be the has been snatched away by an eagle god’s equal. Or not entirely, since “I “of mighty size, on purple wings am mortal, still a woman.” Anticipating descending...” While Athamas’s his lover’s request to be made hopes to wed Semele are dashed, Ino immortal — a request that cannot be sees a glimmer of hope for herself. granted — Jupiter distracts Semele by announcing that he is bringing her Scene 4. While a chorus of priests sister Ino to visit the heavenly palace. pays homage to King Cadmus, Semele sings of the “endless pleasures” Scene 4. Ino appears, and the two she enjoys at Jupiter’s side. (This sisters admire the mysterious beauty aria was originally intended for a of this magical place, surrounded by a nameless soloist. Handel assigned it chorus of “Nymphs and Swains.” to the protagonist, which causes no problems in a concert performance.) ACT III Scene 1. Juno awakens the slumber ACT II god Somnus and promises him the Scene 1. Juno has dispatched her favors of a beautiful nymph named attendant Iris to find Jupiter and Pasithea if he helps her with her plan. Semele’s love nest. Upon hearing that it is guarded by “two fierce dragons” Scene 2. Semele, once again alone, with “a thousand fiery eyes that never awakens from a bad dream. know repose,” they take off to find Somnus, the god of slumber, whom

7 Scene 3. Juno enters, having taken on Ino’s shape. Semele believes she is talking to her sister. Juno gives her a mirror, in which Semele admires her own beauty. Juno urges her to demand that Jupiter appear before her in his divine form. Juno exits.

Scene 4. Jupiter enters, and Semele does as she was told. The god warns his lover not to make this demand, but Semele won’t take no for an answer and flies into a rage.

Scene 5. Jupiter, “pensive and dejected,” laments the doom that Semele has brought upon herself.

Scene 6. Meanwhile, Juno rejoices in her victory.

Scene 7. Semele sees “Jupiter descending in a cloud” and immediately collapses. Her last words are: “Oh help, oh help, I can no more...”

Scene 8. We are back in Thebes, where the opera began. Cadmus, Athamas, Ino, and the chorus mourn the death of Semele, but the mourning turns into celebration as Athamas and Ino are now united in marriage.

Final scene. The god Apollo descends from heaven and announces that “from Semele’s ashes a will rise,” and the chorus solemnly proclaims that the newborn god Bacchus will “crown the joys of love.”

8 ARTISTS

The English Concert is an outstanding Internationally renowned as an opera : exceptional, in the world- and concert conductor of distinction, renowned quality, ambition, and variety Harry Bicket (director and harpsichord) of its live and recorded output; unique, is especially noted for his interpretation in the zeal of its players for working and of baroque and classical repertoire and performing together; and unwavering, in in 2007 became artistic director of The its desire to connect with its audience English Concert, one of the UK’s finest throughout the world. Under the artistic period . He became chief direction of Harry Bicket and principal conductor of in 2013 and guest Kristian Bezuidenhout, The English assumed the music directorship in 2018. Concert has earned a reputation for Productions at Santa Fe in recent seasons combining urgency, passion, and fire with have included Fidelio, , precision, delicacy, and beauty. Romeo et Juliette, , and Candide. The artistic partners they collaborate Born in Liverpool, he studied at the Royal with reflect and enhance their pursuit for College of Music and Oxford University. new ways to bring their music to life. Joyce The current season includes return DiDonato, Dame , Iestyn visits to the (The Magic Davies, , , ), Lyric Opera of Chicago (), Dominic Dromgoole, Tom Morris, and Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera many others have not only brought their (Cosi Fan Tutte and Strauss’s Four Last extraordinary skills to individual projects, Songs with Renée Fleming), and Prague but continue to help The English Concert Philharmonia featuring Beethoven’s The to shape the way the orchestra performs. Creatures of Prometheus, and while in One cornerstone of the orchestra’s Chicago, he also conducts Music of the annual cycle is its international Handel Baroque. Plans with The English Concert opera tour. Blossoming from an ongoing include his own arrangements of Mozart relationship with Carnegie Hall, the works for mechanical clockwork organ, itinerary now regularly takes in the Theater Bach for Advent, and Wayne an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Eagling’s Remembrance ballet, set to the Elbphilharmonie, and , Handel’s Ode to St Cecilia’s Day at the and the roster of great halls continues to English National Ballet Theatre. The grow. Meanwhile, the orchestra’s regular orchestra continues its Handel opera London series allows them to explore series with performances of Semele in a radically different path, presenting Europe and the US, including Théâtre des programs to their home audience that Champs Elysées, Barbican Centre, and challenge, inspire, and fire them. The Carnegie Hall. English Concert launches its partnership Highlights of recent seasons include with this year with acclaimed productions in the US and performances of Monterverdi’s Vespers of Canada for Lyric Opera of Chicago (Orphée 1610, and looks forward to future seasons et Eurydice, Carmen, ), Santa of stunning opera productions. Fe Opera (Bernstein’s Candide, Alcina, Fidelio), Houston Grand Opera (Le Nozze di Figaro, Rusalka), Canadian Opera Company

9 (Maometto II, ), and Metropolitan This season, Elizabeth DeShong (mezzo- Opera (Le Nozze di Figaro, , La soprano/Juno/Ino) performed Adalgisa in clemenza di Tito, ); and guest Norma with the North Carolina Opera, gave a with the Cleveland Orchestra, recital for Vocal Arts DC, sang John Adams’s Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (including The Gospel According to the Other Mary with Cincinnati May Festival), Los Angeles the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber under Adams, and joined the San Francisco Orchestra, , and Houston symphonies for Handel’s Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Messiah, conducted by Jane Glover. Seattle Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Ms. DeShong made her debut with the Orchestra, NACO , Indianapolis Philadelphia Orchestra in Rossini’s Stabat Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Boston Mater conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Symphony Orchestra, and Messiah with and portrayed Sesto in a new production of the Philharmonic. He has also led with the Los Angeles master classes with The . Opera. Later this season she will sing the Verdi with the Minnesota American soprano ’s (soprano/ Orchestra, and returns to the Glyndebourne Semele) outstanding qualities in the lyric Festival in the title role in Handel’s Rinaldo. coloratura repertoire have been acclaimed Engagements next season include Suzuki on both sides of the Atlantic. This season in Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan includes her debut at Opernhaus Zürich Opera, and Hansel in a concert performance as Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem of Hansel and Gretel with the Melbourne Serail) under Riccardo Minasi, her first Symphony conducted by Andrew Davis. operatic appearance at Teatro alla Scala Last season, Ms. DeShong returned as Zerbinetta (), her to Washington National Opera to sing first return as a guest to Oper Frankfurt in Alcina, and to the Metropolitan as Elvira (I puritani), and a return to Opera Opera as Arsace in Semiramide. She Philadelphia as , made her debut with Chicago Symphony following her star turn in the role for Santa Orchestra in Schubert’s Mass No. 6, and Fe Opera. She also gives her debut recital at the world premiere of Three Lisel Mueller in a program of Strauss, Liszt, Settings by Maxwell Raimi, both conducted Debussy, Schubert, and Fanny Mendelssohn. by . She also sang Suzuki in a Recent notable debuts include Lucia new production of Madama Butterfly at the at the Wiener Staatsoper, Zerbinetta in Glyndebourne Festival, made her debuts both Hamburg and Berlin, Anne Trulove with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa (The Rake’s Progress) at Opéra national de Cecilia, and at in Bernstein’s , and, in new repertoire, Berg’s for Symphony No. 1 (“Jeremiah”) under the . Ms. Rae appears direction of . She also as in Handel’s Rinaldo on Opus Arte sang Hansel in a concert version of Hansel DVD from the Glyndebourne Festival, and and Gretel conducted by Andrew Davis at sings Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) on the Edinburgh International Festival. the Oehms label CD release, recorded live from Oper Frankfurt. Future projects include Benjamin Hulett (tenor/Jupiter) graduated debuts with the Metropolitan Opera and from New College Oxford and the Guildhall Madrid. School of Music and Drama, and studies

10 with David Pollard. He has appeared in York Times, “superhuman” by The Denver concert with Jeffrey Tate, Sir Andrew Davis, Post, and “a triumph” by The Guardian. Peter Oundjian, Frans Brüggen, Thomas His current season features Zehetmair, , and Harry performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Bicket; at the Vienna Musikverein and Los Angeles Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Salzburg Mozartwoche with Ivor Bolton; Santa Fe Opera, and Washington National at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh Festival Opera, and on the concert stage, he with Sir Roger Norrington; and on tour with appears with and the Emmanuelle Haim. He sang Tamino in Die Handel & Haydn Society as well as on an Zauberflöte with the international tour with Harry Bicket leading Orchestra and Sir . His The English Concert. recordings have received BBC Music Mr. Howard frequently appears with magazine, Gramophone, Grammy, L’Orfee such heralded conductors as James d’Or, and Diapason nominations and Conlon, Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo awards. His many roles for the Hamburg Dudamel, Nicola Luisotti, and Gianandrea Opera included Tamino, Ferrando in Cosi Noseda. He is the recipient of the 2019 fan tutte, and Narraboth in Salome. He Marian Anderson Vocal Award, which is sang his first Tom Rakewell inThe Rake’s given by Washington National Opera in Progress in Caen, Limoges, Reims, Rouen, recognition of a young American singer and Luxembourg. He has also performed in opera, oratorio, or recital repertoire with House Covent with outstanding promise for a significant Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche career. The Anti-Defamation League Staatsoper Berlin, Opera North, Theater an presented Mr. Howard with its “Making der Wien, and Welsh National Opera, and a Difference Award” in summer 2016 for for the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, raising awareness of voting rights though and Baden-Baden festivals. Recent his performances of Appomattox at the highlights include his debut with the Los Kennedy Center, and for bringing opera Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in L’heure into the larger community. Mr. Howard is a Espagnole (with Charles Dutoit), Andres proud graduate of the Manhattan School of in Wozzeck for the Theater and der Wien, Music and of Morgan State University. Don Ottavio in for the Welsh National Opera, and a return to the 2018 Irish soprano Ailish Tynan (soprano/Iris) BBC Proms as Septimius in (with won the 2003 Rosenblatt Recital Song Jonathan Cohen). Engagements for the Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World current season and beyond include Jupiter competition. She was a member of the in Semele at Carnegie Hall, Rodelinda for prestigious Vilar Young Artist Programme at the Opera de Lille (with Emmanuelle Haim), the -Covent Garden and Arbace in at Teatro Real Madrid, a BBC New Generation Artist. Jonathan in at the Théâtre du Châtelet Ms. Tynan established herself with Paris, David in Die Meistersinger von operatic roles including Gretel in Hänsel Nürnberg in Rome (with Antonio Pappano), und Gretel (The Royal Opera, Welsh National and a return to Covent Garden as Tamino. Opera, and Scottish Opera); Madame Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims, Marzelline Soloman Howard’s (bass/Cadmus/Somnus) in Fidelio, and Madame Podtotshina’s voice is described as “sonorous” by the New Daughter in The Nose (The Royal Opera);

11 Vixen in (Grange at the London Handel Singing Competition, Park Opera); Tigrane in and the Keasbey Award. (English National Opera); Papagena in Die He has worked with a variety of Zauberflöte(Teatro alla Scala and The Royal conductors, including William Christie, Opera); Despina in Così fan tutte (Théâtre , , du Capitole); Héro in Béatrice et Bénédict , Richard Egarr, (Houston Grand Opera and Opéra Comique); , Stephen Layton, Masaaki Sophie in , Nannetta Suzuki, Erin Helyard, David Bates, Roberto in Falstaff, and in Xerxes (Royal Abbado, Leonardo García-Alarcón, and Swedish Opera); and Miss Wordsworth in Martin Pearlman. Albert Herring (Opéra Comique and Opéra Roles in the current season include de Rouen). Didymus in Theodora at Kammerakademie Notable concert appearances include Potsdam, Marte in a new production of La Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Dresdner divisione del mondo with Opéra national Philharmonie, Frankfurt Radio Symphony du Rhin and Opéra national de Lorraine, Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic and Ruggiero in Generoso at the Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Festival 2019. He will and ); Mahler’s also sing a program of Bach and Vivaldi Symphony No. 4 (Prague Symphony in concert on tour with Arcangelo in Orchestra and the Hallé); Mahler’s Hong Kong and with Symphony No. 2 (Accademia Nazionale in Essen, with performing di Santa Cecilia and Royal Philharmonic Pergolesi’s . Orchestra); Britten’s War Requiem (RTÉ Recent operatic roles include Handel's National Symphony Orchestra); Handel’s (title role) for the Göttingen Handel Messiah (); and Festival, Handel’s Rinaldo (Argante) with Haydn’s (City of Birmingham Kammerorchester , Handel’s Orlando Symphony Orchestra). She has also (Medoro) with La Nuova Musica at St. appeared regularly at the BBC Proms. John’s Smith Square London, his English Ms. Tynan is a passionate recitalist National Opera debut in Handel’s Rodelinda performing internationally with pianists (Unulfo), Handel’s (title role) including Iain Burnside, James Baillieu, with Les Talens Lyriques for Ambronay Graham Johnson, and Simon Lepper. Festival, and Dean in Hamlet (Guildenstern) Her numerous recordings include Fauré at the Glyndebourne and Adelaide festivals. Melodies (Opus Arte), Nacht und Träume (Delphian), An Irish Songbook (Signum), The Clarion Choir of New York has and Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (LSO Live). performed on some of the great stages of North America and Europe. The group was Christopher Lowrey (countertenor/ featured on PBS’s NYC-Arts program in Athamas) is now emerging at the front 2014, and their debut recording, released rank of young on both the in August 2016, received a Grammy opera stage and the concert platform. nomination for “Best Choral Performance,” Originally from the US, he is a winner of the a nomination for the BBC Music magazine Helpmann Awards, the Sullivan Foundation Choral Award, and “5 Diapasons” in Award, the Metropolitan Opera National Diapason magazine in France. The Choir’s Council Auditions, the Michael Prize debut, performing Bach

12 chorales at the 2011 White Light Festival, as a guest conductor with renowned was described by the Wall Street Journal as orchestras and opera companies, such “superb...the choristers sang with purity as Philharmonia in of tone and ensemble precision.” In 2014, San Francisco, the Choir gave the New York premiere of in Boston, Juilliard415 at Lincoln Center, Passion Week by Maximilian Steinberg, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the praised as “a stunning performance” Quebec Symphony Orchestra, l’Opéra by the New York Times. In October 2016, de Québec, Music of the Baroque in the Choir premiered this same work in Chicago, and the Tucson Symphony Moscow and St. Petersburg, where it Orchestra. His performances have also was written in 1923, and in London. The taken him to some of the most prestigious Russian premiere, made possible by the US halls internationally, such as the Grand Department of State, took place at the St. Philharmonic Hall and Hermitage Theater Petersburg Philharmonic Hall. The Clarion in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Rachmaninoff Choir performs regularly as part of the Hall in Moscow; the Duke’s Hall of London; Met Live Arts program in the Metropolitan and the Vatican. In 2017, he conducted Museum of Art. On May 7, 2018, the Choir Clarion’s first fully staged opera production, also performed Gregorian chant with Mozart’s Magic Flute. Staged by Alain Madonna at the Met Gala in a three-song Gauthier, the production was called “a deft set that included the world premiere of her reach across two centuries” by the New new song “Beautiful Game.” This season, York Times and “a delight, on all fronts” by The Clarion Choir performs on tour with Opera magazine (UK). Mr. Fox was named the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Leonard an associate of the Royal Academy of Slatkin in the fall, and with The English Music, London, in 2010 and received a Concert and Harry Bicket in the spring. The Grammy Award nomination for his debut Choir has recently released their second recording with The Clarion Choir in 2016. recording, Memory Eternal, which was He has given master classes and clinics awarded “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone at , The Juilliard School, and five stars in BBC Music magazine. and , where he served for two years as preparatory conductor of the Steven Fox (artistic director, Clarion Choir) Yale Schola Cantorum. is artistic director of The Clarion Choir and The Clarion Orchestra, and is in his first season as music director of the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He founded Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg as Russia’s first period-instrument orchestra at the age of 21, and from 2008–2013 was an associate conductor at Opera. He served as assistant conductor for the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Program’s and Juilliard Opera’s production of Gluck’s in 2012. Since then, he has appeared

13 THE ENGLISH CONCERT Harry Bicket / Director and Harpsichord

Violin I Theorbo Nadja Zwiener / Leader William Carter Alice Evans Julia Kuhn Oboe Thérèse Timoney Marta Bławat Silvia Schweinberger Hilary Stock

Violin II Bassoon Tuomo Suni Alberto Grazzi Kinga Ujszászi Zoe Shevlin Jacek Kurzydło Diana Lee Ursula Paludan Monberg Viola Martin Lawrence Alfonso Leal del Ojo Oliver Wilson Trumpet Mark Bennett Cello Stian Aareskjold Joseph Crouch Jonathan Byers Timpani Stephen Burke Double Bass Christine Sticher Harpsichord/Organ Tom Foster

THE CLARION CHOIR Steven Fox / Artistic Director

Soprano Tenor Jessica Beebe Steven Fox Madeline Healey Andrew Fuchs Linda Jones Brian Giebler* Anna Lenti Tim Hodges Molly Netter* Lawrence Jones Nacole Palmer Jonathan Ramseyer Molly Quinn Nola Richardson* Bass Melanie Russell Joseph Beutel Kelvin Chan Alto Michael Hawes Luthien Brackett* Tim Krol Roger Isaacs* Neil Netherly Tim Keeler Jonathan Woody* Marguerite Krull Timothy Parsons Mikki Sodergren * indicates understudy

14 UMS ARCHIVES

This evening’s performance marks The English Concert’s fifth appearance under UMS auspices following its UMS debut in January 1986 in Rackham Auditorium with Trevor Pinnock conducting and on harpsichord. Harry Bicket makes his third UMS appearance and soprano Brenda Rae her fifth UMS appearance this evening following their UMS debuts in February 2013 at Hill Auditorium in a concert performance of Handel’s Radamisto with The English Concert. Mr. Bicket and The English Concert most recently appeared under UMS auspices in April 2017 in a performance of Handel’s Ariodante in Hill Auditorium. Ms. Rae most recently appeared at UMS in performances of Handel’s Messiah in December 2017 in Hill Auditorium. This evening’s performance marks mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong’s third performance under UMS auspices, following her UMS debut in December 2015 in performances of Handel’s Messiah in Hill Auditorium. UMS welcomes Benjamin Hulett, Soloman Howard, Ailish Tynan, Christopher Lowrey, the Clarion Choir, and Steven Fox as they make their UMS debuts this evening.

15 TONIGHT’S VICTORS FOR UMS:

William R. Kinney Endowment Fund — Jim Toy

Supporters of this evening’s performance of Handel’s Semele.

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