Purcell's Dioclesian October 5, 2012

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Helene Zindarsian, soprano
Clifton Massey, countertenor
Jean-Paul Jones, countertenor
Jonathan Smucker, tenor
Brian Thorsett, tenor
Jeffrey Fields, baritone
John Bischoff, bass-baritone
Philharmonia Chorale, Bruce Lamott, director

Purcell's first major success in the theater, Dioclesian, is also a Philharmonia Baroque premiere. This "tragicomic semi-opera," (the Baroque equivalent of a Broadway musical) about a common soldier's ascent to the Roman imperial throne, is ostensibly a tale of struggle and political power, but it is truly a story about the universal conflict between love and duty.

Perhaps best known for his opera Dido and Aeneas, Henry Purcell incorporated stylistic elements from French and Italian to create a uniquely English form of Baroque music. With a flair for the dramatic, he mixed song, dance and theatre to sensational effect and he was the only English composer of his time to attain regard equal to that of his counterparts on the European continent. McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque infuse the historically informed performance with vitality and musicality; masterfully recreating the sound and feel of Purcell's music that was composed for an evening at the theater that was very-different*-than it is today.

Nicholas McGegan is loved by audiences and orchestras for performances that match authority with enthusiasm, scholarship with joy, and curatorial responsibility with evangelical exuberance. The London Independent calls him "one of the finest baroque conductors of his generation" and The New Yorker lauds him as "an expert in 18th-century style."

Through twenty-seven years as its music director, McGegan has established the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorale as the leading period instrument ensemble in America - and at the forefront of the 'historically informed performance' movement worldwide.

Official Website: http://www.philharmonia.org/oct2012/