In the Realms of Sorrow: Handel cantatas in the round

Claire Booth

Jonathon Luke Baker and Patrick Terry

Nardus Williams

By Mark Valencia, 05 March 2023

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“a vivid, courageous moment of theatre”

Reviewed at Stone Nest, London on 2 March 2023

Programme to include:

Handel, Il Delirio Amoroso, (Da quel giorno fatale) HWV 99

Handel, Armida abbandonata, HWV 105

Handel, Ero e Leandro / Qual ti rivegio, oh Dio, HWV 150

Handel, Agrippina condotta a morire, HWV 110

Works by Werner

Adele Thomas, Director

Hannah Clark, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Joshua Pharo, Lighting Designer, Video

Emma Woods, Choreography

James Laing, Countertenor

Patrick Terry, Countertenor

Nardus Williams, Soprano

Soraya Mafi, Soprano

Claire Booth, Soprano

Jonathon Luke Baker, Dancer

Laurence Cummings, Director

New Adventures' Nutcracker! an explosion of sheer joy

Graham Watts, 17th December

A triumphant revival against all the odds as Sir Matthew Bourne's Sweetieland festivities return – briefly – to the stage.

*****

Cummings and the AAM win ‘Leipzig's Got Talent’

Nick Boston, 16th April

The Academy of Ancient Music poses the question what might have been in Leipzig with stunning performances of Bach and his competitors to be the new Thomaskantor.

*****

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.

*****

An acrobatic Orpheus and Eurydice in Edinburgh

Roy Westbrook, 13th August

The music plays second fiddle to Australian circus company Circa in Yaron Lifschitz’s production of Gluck's great opera.

***11

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

More reviews...

Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.

In the Realms of Sorrow: London Handel Festival presents cantatas in the round