Handel's Duets and Arias at Wisconsin Lutheran College

The Chamber Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music, under artistic director/countertenor Daniel Taylor, will fill Wisconsin Lutheran College with the beautiful music of George Frideric Handel—specifically, operatic arias and duets from Giulio Cesare, Rodelinda, Tolomeo and Rinaldo. Taylor will sing with British soprano Deborah York, a prolific recording artist, to the accompaniment of a string quintet, lute and harpsichord.


Handel was among the greatest composers in the style known as opera seria (“serious”), which, as its name suggests, was the opposite number to comic opera. Perhaps Handel's prodigious creativity was spurred when his father strictly forbade him to engage in any musical endeavors; young Handel found a way to sneak a small clavichord into a room in the attic, where he would work on compositions when the rest of the family was asleep. While Handel's Messiah, with its rousing “Hallelujah Chorus,” is considered his best-loved piece of music, his long-overlooked work in the opera seria genre has found new audiences since the revival of interest in Baroque and early music, beginning in the 1960s.

Join Taylor, York and company Nov. 19 for a rare look at the love duets and arias of Handel at Wisconsin Lutheran College, 8815 W. Wisconsin Ave. A pre-concert lecture will be held at 4 p.m. and the concert will commence at 5 p.m. The evening is presented by Early Music Now.