This November, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale opens the 2026/27 season with Handel’s The Power of Music, featuring Alexander’s Feast. Here are eight reasons this remarkable work, and this remarkable performance, deserve your attention.
1. It’s A Premiere 284 Years in the Making
The version you’ll hear this November has never before been performed in the United States. Handel originally composed Alexander’s Feast (which is alternatively titled The Power of Music) in London in 1736 and he substantially reworked the score during his stay in Ireland, expanding it from two parts to three and rewriting several solo movements to suit the singers available to him. It’s this 1742 Dublin version that Bay Area audiences will be the first in the country to hear in November.
2. Can Music Change the Course Of History?
That question lies at the heart of Alexander’s Feast. Set at a banquet celebrating Alexander the Great’s victory over Persia, the work follows the musician Timotheus as he leads the conqueror through a series of emotions: pride, love, melancholy, drunken exuberance, fury, and, ultimately, a call to revenge. Rather than simply accompanying the action, the music drives it, suggesting that music itself can shape the course of human events.
3. Handel Spent Nearly a Year in Ireland, and it Changed This Work
Burned out from his hectic life in London, Handel arrived in Ireland in late 1741 and spent nearly a year there giving concerts, composing, and revising earlier works. Many people are surprised to learn that Messiah premiered not in London, but in Dublin, and just a few weeks after this version of his Alexander’s Feast was first performed.
4. It Was One of Handel’s Greatest Successes
Today, Messiah overshadows almost everything else Handel wrote, however Alexander’s Feast was one of the great triumphs of his lifetime, being performed around 25 times while he was alive. Its vivid orchestral writing, memorable choruses, and dramatic solos make it one of his most celebrated concert works.
5. It Brings Together History, Myth, and Poetry
The story begins with a legendary banquet from the life of Alexander the Great, but it isn’t intended as history. Handel’s librettist, Newburgh Hamilton, adapted a poem by the English poet John Dryden to explore a timeless idea: music’s extraordinary power over human emotion. Hamilton also wrote the additional text that enabled Handel to expand the work into its new three-part form for the 1742 Dublin performances.
6. A Cast of Today’s Leading Handel Specialists
Alexander’s Feast demands singers who can combine technical virtuosity and dramatic storytelling. Peter Whelan is joined by three internationally acclaimed Baroque specialists: soprano Sherezade Panthaki, praised for her brilliance and expressive artistry; mezzo-soprano Rachael Wilson, renowned for her interpretations of Handel’s music; and tenor James Way, one of Britain’s leading young lyric tenors. Together with Philharmonia Chorale, they bring Handel’s vivid characters and emotional drama to life.
7. You’ll Hear the Music Much as Handel Did
Performed on period instruments and in the style of the time, these concerts bring audiences closer to the sound world Handel knew, revealing colors and musical details you won’t hear with a modern orchestra.
8. The Beginning of a New Chapter
These performances mark the beginning of Music Director Peter Whelan’s first season leading Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. It’s a fitting opening to his inaugural season: a work that combines scholarship, discovery, and Handel at the height of his powers.
Preview the Music
Music Director Peter Whelan leads the first U.S. performances of Handel’s 1742 Dublin version of Alexander’s Feast in Handel’s The Power of Music, performed on period instruments and in the style of the time. The concerts feature soprano Sherezade Panthaki, mezzo-soprano Rachael Wilson, tenor James Way, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and Philharmonia Chorale under the direction of Valérie Sainte-Agathe.
Program
George Frideric HANDEL — Alexander’s Feast, or The Power of Music (1742 Dublin Version) (U.S. PREMIERE)
Peter Whelan, conductor
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Rachael Wilson, mezzo-soprano
James Way, tenor
Philharmonia Chorale, directed by Valérie Sainte-Agathe
Performances
Wednesday, November 11, 2026 • 7:30 PM
Bing Concert Hall
327 Lasuen St., Stanford, CA 94305
This program is co-presented as part of Stanford Live’s 2026/27 season.
Friday, November 13, 2026 • 7:30 PM
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
Saturday, November 14, 2026 • 7:30 PM
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
Tickets
Tickets start at $40, and three-concert subscriptions start at $96. For tickets or information, call (415) 295-1900 (Mon-Fri, 10 AM-4 PM) or visit philharmonia.org/power.
