Welcome
Imagine an opera company that appeals to all ages and backgrounds without making artistic compromises. That thrives on meaningful interplay between the stage and the orchestra pit. That inspires performers and excites audiences through a fusion of scholarship and artistic excellence. That inspires children to engage in baroque music-making and invites amateurs to quiz international scholars.
Cambridge Handel Opera Company is that company.
Shortlisted for the 2021 Gramophone Award in association with the Academy of Ancient Music, Cambridge Handel Opera Company stages events which are ‘simply unmissable’ (Opera Now) and ‘impeccably stylish’ (The Stage). So far, its Talent Development Programme has enabled advanced period instrumentalists from nine institutions to rehearse and perform alongside expert professionals in staged productions, while its unique online discussions between musicians, directors and scholars, Handel’s Green Room, reach global audiences. Its concerts range from revivals of English music dramas to a chamber series that showcases neglected gems by Handel and his contemporaries.
You can gain an excellent insight into CHOC’s brilliance by watching a short film about its staged production of Tamerlano, Handel’s most intensely psychological opera, performed in April 2022 in Cambridge.
The fallen Emperor Bajazet cannot come to terms with his humiliation – nor can he let his daughter Asteria fall into the hands of his presumptuous victor, Tamerlano.
In an austere and starkly lit setting, paternal heartache, royal status, thwarted love and frustrated passion collide to devastating effect.
Coming up
Cantata-thon VII
Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG4 9RB
Please join Cambridge Handel Opera for our seventh Cantata-thon. This series celebrates Handel’s rarely-performed cantatas for solo voice and continuo. Ecstasy and agony go hand-in-hand in concise dramas where the young Handel flexes his considerable dramatic muscles.
Our concert features the soprano Anna Cavaliero with CHOC’s Artistic Director, Julian Perkins, harpsichord. The programme includes Handel’s cantata Allor ch’io dissi addio and a recently discovered version of Crudel tiranno amor, and some of Handel’s rarely heard fugues on the harpsichord.
Tickets can be purchased here (under 27s FREE). Donations to CHOC are welcome and can be made here
Anna Cavaliero
Photo: Benjamin Ealovega
Julian Perkins
Photo: Julia Claxton
CHOC presents interactive discussions that focus on key aspects of preparing a staged opera production
CHOC loves sharing the excitement and passion of baroque music with its audiences – of all ages