麻豆社

Austrian soprano Anna Prohaska joins Italy鈥檚 leading early music ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, under the direction of Giovanni Antonini, for a programme offering opera and concerto grosso, two genres that were born and thrived during the Baroque Era. The concert starts with opera arias that take inspiration from two great tragic women of the ancient world, who became endlessly fascinating to composers of the time. First is Dido, Queen of Carthage, portrayed by Henry Purcell, the most celebrated composer of opera in 17th-century England, who immortalised her in the famous lament as she bids farewell to this world, rejected by her lover Aeneas; next is Cleopatra, the legendary Egyptian queen, as seen by George Frideric Handel and Johann Adolf Hasse in operas inspired in the Italian style, which dominated the Baroque.

Also featured in the Prom is Handel鈥檚 Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op. 6 No. 8, a form of chamber music in which material is passed and shared among the members of a small ensemble, as opposed to the concerto for a solo instrument. It became very popular during the 17th and 18th centuries and proved instrumental in the evolution of the modern orchestra. The music then returns to Purcell鈥檚 Dido and Aeneas, ending the concert with Dido鈥檚 famous lament.

Presenter Georgia Mann is joined by Baroque music expert and singer Elin Manahan Thomas.

Photo: Anna Prohaska Credit: 麻豆社/Christopher Christodoulou