A Handel Celebration Tickets

Presented by: Canberra Choral Society

The Canberra Choral Society (CCS) is thrilled to present 'A Handel Celebration' in Llewellyn Hall, The Australian National University on Saturday 13 December at 7.30 pm.
The prolific musical genius of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) attracts and impresses as powerfully today, as ever. Hear Handel’s musical and choral mastery through a spectacular selection of arias and choruses from operas, oratorios, odes and anthems spanning his spectacular career.
From the inventive brilliance of the sinfonia from the youthful Handel’s opera Agrippina, a gamut of emotions is traversed by choruses from Handel’s English dramatic oratorios Athalia, Saul, Israel in Egypt, Hercules, Judas Maccabeus and Theodora. Selections from Messiah will move and elate, while the sombre sounds from the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline contrast with the exuberant coronation anthem Zadok the Priest and poetic and joyful music from Alexander’s Feast. The drama is intensified with exquisite Soprano arias like ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ (‘Let me weep’) from Rinaldo, two of Cleopatra’s arias from Julius Caesar and an aria from Alcina.
Guest conductor Erin Helyard, a baroque and early classical specialist and Artistic Director and co-founder of Pinchgut Opera, will bring the music to life, together with highly accomplished French soprano soloist Myriam Arbouz, a 160 strong chorus of 80 CCS and 80 guest singers prepared by CCS Music Director and Chorus Master, Dan Walker, and a locally-sourced professional orchestra.
“Handel’s magnificent choruses have been the mainstay of choral societies since the late eighteenth century. His oratorios earned the admiration of no less than composers like Mozart and Beethoven, and it is always a pleasure and honour to perform such extraordinary works with passionate people,” Erin Helyard observes, “I can’t wait to work with … the Canberra Choral Society, … guest singers and musicians from the local community to bring this wonderful concert to fruition.”