Musicians of the Old Post Road announces its 2010-11 Season

Musicians of the Old Post Road’s 22nd season of concerts will feature a wide variety of unusual repertoire across a broad spectrum of themes. The four programs of the subscription series promise a bounty of wide-ranging discoveries.

Opening the season in October will be a program exploring works of the young Handel composed during his years in Italy. Entitled Roman Handel, this program will include some of his most dramatic vocal chamber works along with cantatas and instrumental compositions by his illustrious Italian colleagues, including Alessandro Scarlatti, Giovanni Lulier, Carlo Cesarini, and Domenico Sarri. Soprano Kristen Watson, an OPR audience favorite, will join the ensemble for this captivating program.

For its annual December holiday program, the ensemble will resume its exploration of the beautiful and deeply expressive works of Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Joyeux Noël—A French Baroque Christmas will feature a rare performance of his Dialogus Inter Angelos et Pastores Judeae in Nativitatem Domini (Dialogue between the angels and Judaean shepherds at the birth of the Lord). Like many of Charpentier’s Christmas works, this motet effectively contrasts the sublime and the rustic elements of the Christmas story. The program will also include his Magnificat H83 and tuneful noël settings by Charpentier. Four of the region’s finest vocal soloists will join an augmented instrumental ensemble for this festive program.

Late January’s chill will be warmed by the beguiling sounds of the chalumeau—a Baroque clarinet—and the Baroque bassoon in Hidden Treasures from the German Baroque. This program highlights these unusual instruments in quartets and trio sonatas of the German late Baroque. Janitsch, Graupner, Fasch, and Heinichen were composers who made frequent use of unusual instruments and instrumental combinations, and this program promises a colorful and alluring aural experience.

Classical sounds of early America will be captured in the concluding program of the season. Philadelphia Story is a revelatory musical portrait of some of the United States’ first composers who developed the sophisticated concert life of Federal Philadelphia. The concert will include solo sonatas, duos, trios, and quartets by John Christopher Moller, Raynor Taylor, Alexander Reinagle and others, and will offer audiences a rare glimpse into this lively musical scene.

Concert dates, locations, and subscription information are included on the Concert Series page of this website. Please join the ensemble for all of this season’s programs!