Britten Sinfonia

Britten Sinfonia
Alice Coote mezzo-soprano
Mahan Esfahani harpsichord/director
Jacqueline Shave violin/director

Purcell Rondeau from ‘Abdelazar Suite'; Let the night perish (Job’s Curse) Z.191 (arr. Nico Muhly); Dido’s Lament
Tippett (after Purcell) A Lament
Handel Mi lusinga il dolce afetto; Verdi prati
Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.3; Keyboard Concerto in D minor BWV.1052
Britten Phaedra Op.93

Britten’s final great masterpiece, written just before his death in 1976, is based on the dramatic legend of Phaedra, a noblewoman who falls unrequitedly in love with her stepson, causes his death, and then takes her own life. Mezzo Alice Coote, acclaimed for her performances at the major opera houses of the world, performs this taught, devastating work in addition to two arias composed by Handel for the anguished knight-hero of his opera Alcina. Britten Sinfonia is joined too by the award-winning Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Estafani, who plays a popular keyboard concerto by Bach in addition to the vital harpsichord part in the orchestral accompaniment to Phaedra.