There’s a common joke in the music world that thousands of performers owe their December rent or mortgage payment more to Georg Friedrich Händel than any other source. That’s because his Messiah is probably the most often performed work throughout the world, providing predictable income for instrumentalists and singers. However, before and after an audience first heard its famed “Hallelujah Chorus” in 1742 in Dublin at Neale’s Music Hall, the prolific German-born and British-adopted composer was hard at work creating more than 600 works, including over 80 operas, oratorios, and masques. Although Messiah was not Händel’s first oratorio in English, it was certainly a turning point. Ever the realist, the composer recognized that the taste of the British audience had changed with his previously financially successful Italian operas falling out of favor; he ceased writing them after the success of Messiah.
The Amadeus Chamber Ensemble’s “Hallelujah Handel!” concert will provide the Knoxville audience an opportunity to explore both familiar and rarely heard music from oratorios and operas by the Baroque composer. Daring to take on the difficult challenges of Handel’s sustained melodies along with extraordinarily embellished, high-speed music will be mezzosoprano Renée Tatum and bass Curtis Streetman in their Knoxville debuts, along with soprano Abigail Santos Villalobos and tenor Aaron Short, well-known from their previous local concert and opera appearances.
In addition to the vocal beauty of Handel arias, a group of trumpets will blaze their way through the heroic music of Judas Maccabaeus, Rinaldo, and Samson. Conductor Brian Salesky remarked that “this concert will likely be the first time much of this music has been performed in Knoxville and I can’t wait to present both the exquisite arias and thrilling vocal and instrumental fireworks.”
An additional surprise on the program is the participation of the combined Knoxville Symphony Youth Choir and St. John Neumann Catholic School Choir.
The performance on Sunday, April 16 at 5:00 pm will take place at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Farragut. “Hallelujah Handel!” is FREE; reservations are not required.
Amadeus Chamber Ensemble presents Hallelujah Handel!
Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 5:00 pm
St. John Neumann Catholic Church
633 St. John Court, Knoxville, TN 37934
Free Admission. Reservations Not Required.
Information
—PROGRAM—
Selections from Rinaldo, Atalanta, Julius Caesar, Dettingen Te Deum, Semele, Samson, Serse, Floridante, Alcina, Judas Maccabaeus
—FEATURING—
Brian Salesky, conductor
Abigail Santos Villalobos, soprano; Renée Tatum, mezzosoprano; Aaron Short, tenor; Curtis Streetman, bass
