London Handel Festival makes a strong case for rarely heard oratorio Deborah

By Nahoko Gotoh, 11 April 2014

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Reviewed at St George's, Hanover Square, London on 9 April 2014

Handel, Deborah

London Handel Orchestra

Adrian Butterfield, Leader

London Handel Singers

Laurence Cummings, Conductor

Lynda Lee, Soprano

Katherine Watson, Soprano

Robin Blaze, Countertenor

Owen Willetts, Countertenor

Njal Sparbo, Bass

A triumphant Esther from Cummings at London Handel Festival

Nick Boston, 14th March

A glorious Esther from Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Singers and Orchestra, with a classy line-up of soloists led by Nardus Williams and Tim Mead.

****1

La Resurrezione brings London Handel Festival to an uplifting close

Nahoko Gotoh, 18th April

On Easter Monday, this year's London Handel Festival came to a close with Handel's youthful oratorio La Resurrezione in the suitably Baroque setting of London's St Martin-in-the-Fields.

****1

Messiah: Reimagined at St George’s, Hanover Square... but not too much

Sandra Bowdler, 5th April

Handel’s Messiah is not too re-imagined, thankfully, with an almost Crystal Palace sized choir although not all singing at once!

****1

JPYA make a decent fist of Handel's Susanna in the Linbury Theatre

Mark Valencia, 5th March

The evening’s most unbuttoned applause was reserved for two native anglophone artists, countertenor Patrick Terry and bass-baritone Michael Mofidian.

***11

Berenice at the Linbury: Handel meets Gilbert and Sullivan

David Karlin, 27th March

Visual eye candy, excellent singing and superb Handelian playing by Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Orchestra are marred by poor diction and limited acting expressivity.

***11

Ariodante at the RCM: in which technique is not enough

David Karlin, 8th March

An impressive display of singing technique isn't enough to make RCM's Ariodante connect with hearts and minds.

**111

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Nahoko Gotoh

Nahoko is a UK-based Japanese music journalist with a background in musicology. She writes regularly for various Japanese media including Ongaku no tomo and Mostly Classic magazines.