Login / RegisterEarly Music Festival details announced
An opera-in-concert presentation of George Frederick Handel’s Orlando is the anchor showpiece of the 2012 Early Music Festival, which takes place July 29 to August 17 at UBC’s Roy Barnett Recital Hall and the Chan Centre.
The opera, which will be at the Chan Centre August 15, will feature a stellar cast of early music singers, with British countertenor Tim Mead as the title character Orlando, a soldier who falls in love with the pagan princess Angelica, sung by Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin. Canadian alto Allyson McHardy will sing Medoro, the man Angelica is in love with, and American soprano Amanda Forsythe will sing Dorinda, a shepherdess. The renowned Dutch bass Harry van der Kamp will sing Zoroastro, a magician who intervenes to prevent absolute carnage caused by Orlando’s jealousy-fuelled madness.
The cast will be supported by the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, with its artistic director, Alexander Weimann, directing the production.
Other highlights of the festival include the August 5 Canadian debut of American early music ensemble Quicksilver, in a program of music from the 17th century early modern period; the August 8 concert by the Gesualdo Concert, a Dutch early music vocal ensemble that will present madrigals by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Carlo Gesualdo, accompanied by Weimann; and the August 10 performance of sonorous music by Giovanni Gabrieli, presented as a Marian vespers by Montreal ensembles Les Voix Baroques and La Rose des Vents.
For a full concert schedule and tickets, visit www.earlymusic.bc.ca.
