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If you love Baroque Opera, join us for the 2017/18 season for three tremendous vocal programs including the semi-staged production of the U.S. Premiere of Sally Beamish’s The Judas Passion – co-commissioned by PBO and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. You’ll also hear top Handel interpreter Nic McGegan and the orchestra take on Handel’s Joseph and his Brethren. And the season culminates when star soprano from Le Temple de la Gloire Chantal Santon-Jeffery and rising opera star Avery Amereau perform in Beethoven Unleashed in April 2018.

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Program 1
U.S. Premiere
The Judas Passion
October 4-8, 2017

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The season opens with the first-ever co-commissioned piece for PBO and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment (OAE) in London. The Judas Passion will make its U.S. premiere with Nic and the Orchestra in the bay area this October. Scottish composer Sally Beamish has been fascinated with Jesus’s disciple, Judas Iscariot, and tells this story through a passion loosely based on Gnostic texts. The libretto, written by poet David Harsent, will explore Judas in a more sympathetic light — the ultimate question of perspective, of failing humanity, forgiveness and redemption. Telemann’s Tafelmusik will be the perfect compliment to this stirring program.

TELEMANN Tafelmusik, Suite No. 1 in E minor
BEAMISH The Judas Passion

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Mary Bevan, soprano
Brenden Gunnell, tenor
Roderick WIlliams, bass-baritone
Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director

The Judas Passion is co-commissioned by Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Wednesday October 4 2017 @ 7:30 pm | Bing Concert Hall, Stanford
Friday October 6, 2017 @ 8 pm | Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
Saturday October 7, 2017 @ 8 pm | First Congregational Church, Berkeley
Sunday October 8, 2017 @ 4 pm | First Congregational Church, Berkeley

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Program 2
Handel’s Joseph and his Brethren
December 14-17

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Philharmonia has performed more of Handel’s oratorios than any period instrument orchestra, and Nic McGegan is internationally known for his interpretation of these monumental works. Joseph and his Brethren is new to our repertoire and tells the Biblical story of Joseph and his reconciliation with his Jewish family in Egypt. It gives Handel the opportunity to depict the grandeur of Pharoah’s court and the faith of Joseph’s estranged brothers in a plot of intrigue and mistaken identity. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear this dramatic work , rarely performed since Handel’s lifetime, in a definitive performance led by Nic McGegan with our Orchestra, Chorale, and a superb cast of soloists.

HANDEL Joseph and his Brethren, HWV 59

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Gabrielle Haigh, soprano
Diana Moore, mezzo-soprano
Abigail Levis, mezzo-soprano
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Philip Cutlip, baritone
Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Thursday December 14, 2017 @ 7:30 pm | Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
Friday December 15, 2017 @ 7:30 pm | First United Methodist Church, Palo Alto
Saturday December 16, 2017 @ 7 pm |First Congregational Church, Berkeley
Sunday December 17, 2017 @ 4 pm |First Congregational Church, Berkeley

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Program 3
Beethoven Unleashed
with Avery Amereau
April 25-29

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The New York Times calls her “a rarity in music.” Joyce DiDonato describes her voice as “like velvet, caramel chocolate.” Maestro Thomas Crawford says, “the voice is just ravishing.” And now Bay Area audiences will have a chance to hear it for themselves when up-and-coming contralto Avery Amereau performs in Beethoven’s monumental Mass in C Major and his “Choral Fantasy.”

Avery will also be joined by the star soprano from Rameau’s Le Temple de la Gloire, Chantal Santon-Jeffery, and tenor Thomas Cooley who will both perform in the Beethoven works as well as Cherubini’s tribute to Haydn.

BEETHOVEN Mass in C major, Op. 86
CHERUBINI Chant sur la mort de Joseph Haydn
BEETHOVEN Fantasia in C minor, Op. 80 “Choral Fantasy”

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Avery Amereau, mezzo-soprano
Chantal Santon-Jeffery, soprano
Thomas Cooley, tenor
David Kurtenbach, tenor
Hadleigh Adams, baritone

Eric Zivian, fortepiano
Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Wednesday April 25, 2018 @ 7:30 pm | Bing Concert Hall, Stanford
Friday April 27, 2018 @ 7:30 pm | Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
Saturday April 28, 2018 @ 8 pm | First Congregational Church, Berkeley
Sunday April 29, 2018 @ 4 pm | First Congregational Church, Berkeley

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