The English Concert, Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street

For his penultimate and arguably his finest oratorio, Handel found a story from an unlikely source – a tale of martyrdom recounted by a scientist known for his Law of Thermodynamics rather than his literary skill.

But the painful wisdom of Robert Boyle's Theodora, who refused to renounce her beliefs and was executed with the soldier who betrayed his officers to protect her, drew from Handel some of the most heart-stopping music he would write.

Stamped through Handel's score is both the inspiring hope of love and the searing pain of injustice; music that is as much human as it is divine.

Soloists: Rosemary Joshua (soprano), Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Tim Mead (countertenor), Andrew Kennedy (tenor) and Neal Davies (bass).