By royal appointment: Handel in Birmingham with the Academy of Ancient Music

By Katherine Dixson, 05 June 2012

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Reviewed at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 2 June 2012

Handel, Coronation Anthem no. 1: Zadok the priest, HWV 258

Handel, Water Music, Suite no. 2 in D major, HWV 349

Handel, Coronation Anthem no. 2: The King shall rejoice, HWV 260

Handel, Coronation Anthem no. 4: Let thy hand be strengthened; HWV 259

Handel, Royal Fireworks Music, HWV 351

Handel, Coronation Anthem no. 3: My heart is inditing, HWV 261

Handel, Settings of "Amen" / "Halleluja, amen" HWV 269-77

Academy of Ancient Music

Choir of the AAM

Richard Egarr, Conductor

Freudian slip: Handel’s Tamerlano recast as Trumpian tantrums

Mark Pullinger, 26th March

Opha Phelan’s staging presents the action as a grand, Freudian social experiment. It’s a risk – but the production is lifted by outstanding performances from the cast and the Academy of Ancient Music.

***11

Ed Lyon excels in Monteverdi’s Songs of Love and War

Stephen Pritchard, 12th February

Tenor Ed Lyon fulfils a long-held ambition to sing Monteverdi's Eighth Book of Madrigals, conducted by his former teacher, Laurence Cummings at Milton Court.

*****

Strong team for a Good Friday St John Passion

Roy Westbrook, 18th April

The greatest music of the 18th century – no arguments, please – is given a fine reading at London's Barbican.

****1

Academy of Ancient Music delivers a majestic Messiah

Charlotte Gardner, 16th December

Laurence Cummings and the AAM serve up Messiah-shaped serenity at the Barbican.

****1

Actéon and Pygmalion: three transformations for the price of two

Roy Westbrook, 9th October

Ovid’s Metamorphoses makes an ideal curtain-raiser to the Academy of Ancient Music's new season, with works by Charpentier and Rameau conducted by Laurence Cummings... who also sings!

****1

Academy of Ancient Music are inspired in Handel's Orlando

Roy Westbrook, 30th June

“A concert performance with neither scenery nor action would be a sacrilege,” wrote one authority of this opera. Nobody told the Academy of Ancient Music...

****1

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Katherine Dixson

Katherine is an enthusiastic choral singer. Becoming chairman of her choir proved the catalyst for writing a memoir into which she crammed musical experiences galore, including her own belated musical education and encounters with professional musicians. Combining music, writing and travel is Katherine’s idea of bliss. Her website is here.