“Ton Koopman radiates with an enduring joy of playing. Whether he is sitting behind the organ or harpsichord, or conducting his choir and orchestra, his passion for sound still shines through,” says NRC. At 80, his unbridled joy in making music is always at the forefront. This undoubtedly benefits the performances on authentic instruments. Last season, he led an overwhelming performance of Handel’s oratorio Esther with his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, which he founded in 1979. Athalia is just as much an underappreciated masterpiece by the German Briton Handel.
It’s 1733. Georg Friedrich Handel, commissioned by the Public Act in Oxford – a ceremony of the famous university – composes his new oratorio Athalia. He draws inspiration from the great French tragedian Racine. Athalia is the Biblical story about the dethroning of a tyrannical monarch. Handel is the uncrowned king of the oratorio, even the ‘inventor’ of the genre. His Messiah is his most famous and one of the most beloved masterpieces ever. Athalia is no less impressive. With this close-knit Amsterdam ensemble of international Baroque specialists, who gather several times a year to work on a beautiful new program, it will be a Handel performance to remember.
