Being Both
Alice Coote mezzo-soprano
Susannah Waters director
Harry Bicket conductor
The English Concert
As one of the great vocal artists of her generation, Alice Coote is renowned for her Handelian repertory and the portrayal of roles originally written for castrati.
Together with director Susannah Waters and especially for Brighton Festival, she now embarks on a brilliantly theatrical journey into the heart of Handel’s sublime vocal music, in order to challenge the experience and perception of gender.
What is it to be a man or a woman? Are we all in some senses BOTH? How is the soul of the human being, faced with life's most profound challenges, affected by the question of gender?
This unique venture brings together some of the world’s leading Baroque and Classical specialists, led by Harry Bicket, whose reputation in this repertory is unrivalled. With arias from Handel’s operas, oratorios, and cantatas, together these artists explore the meaning of being both male and female within the context of these astounding expressions of the human heart.
‘The English Concert, the acclaimed period instrument ensemble, with Harry Bicket conducting, presented an elegant, dramatically riveting concert performance’ New York Times
Handel programme to include:
Alcina – Sta nell’ircana
Hercules - Resign thy club… and There, in myrtle shades
Ariodante - Scherza Infida, Dopo Notte and excerpts of ballet music
Theodora - O that I on wings could rise
Messiah - He was despised
Semele - Myself I shall Adore
Guilio Cesare - Se pieta
