Minerva Baroque @ The Round Chapel Old School Rooms
MINERVA BAROQUE PRESENT HANDEL'S MUSIC ROOM: Handel, A. Scarlatti, Corelli and Purcell
Minerva Baroque was founded by four leading young musicians with a shared goal of exploring London’s musical heritage through the lens of Handel’s life, his travels, and the musicians who inspired him. Accessibly presenting both vocal and instrumental music, from the familiar to the lesser known, Minerva traces connections across Europe that converged in our city.
The group is a Making Music Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist Ensemble, and was part of the BREMF Live scheme at Brighton Early Music Festival, where it received praise from The Latest for the ‘musicality, dramatic sense and comic timing’ of its showcase performance. As part of the scheme Minerva also received coaching from Laurence Cummings and delivered inspiring workshops for schoolchildren. The group has additionally performed at the Handel Hendrix House and in recital series across London.
Minerva comprises soprano Danni O’Neill, violinist May Robertson, cellist Iain Hall and harpsichordist Callum Anderson. Between them they hold degrees from the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and the universities of Cambridge and Bristol, and have worked with groups including the Academy of Ancient Music, London Handel Players, Florilegium, and Le Concert d’Astrée.
For this concert, with the united aim of exploring London’s musical heritage through the lens of Handel’s life, work and legacy, the four musicians of Minerva Baroque (three instrumentalists and a soprano) recreate the typical repertoire of Handel's music room. Sacred and secular vocal works by Handel himself (setting texts in his native German as well as his adopted Italian and English tongues) are interspersed with pieces by his great English precursor Henry Purcell and his younger contemporary Thomas Arne (of Rule, Britannia! fame), a stately air from Playford’s English Dancing Master and a popular sonata by Handel’s Italian mentor Arcangelo Corelli.
Kindly supported by Making Music’s Philip & Dorothy Green Young Artists scheme.
Thursday 18th June, 7:30pm
The Round Chapel Old School Rooms, Hackney
Location
Hackney Round Chapel Old School Rooms, E5 0PU