The award-winning Brook Street Band is delighted to be celebrating its 20th anniversary at the Wigmore Hall on 17th July with an all-Handel concert. Since its formation in 1996 by baroque cellist Tatty Theo, The Brook Street Band has established itself as one of the country's foremost interpreters of Handel's music. The name comes from the street in London's Mayfair where George Frideric Handel lived and composed for most of his working life.
Tatty Theo says: "The Band has been a regular fixture at Wigmore Hall since its debut there in 2003, so it seems the perfect place to celebrate, under the watchful eye of the glorious painting of Apollo, above the stage. Handel is the composer which the Band has become famous for, so these celebrations feature just his music, in pieces which have close personal associations for the Band."
The concert includes some of the group's most popular and successful repertoire including Handel's 'Oxford' Water Music which was the music on their first CD (a Gramophone Editors Choice) and Handel’s Trio Sonata Op 5 No 4, one of the Band's all-time favourites and a piece that generated the quote “if you need instant sunshine, play this disc” from The Times. To quote harpsichordist Carolyn Gibley "No matter how many times we play it, we never tire of it. It seems to invigorate us whatever mood we are in. People enjoy listening to it too and it is probably our most broadcast work."
It seems fitting that the concert also includes a piece from The Brook Street Band's latest CD 'Handel Trio Sonatas for two violins and basso continuo' released March 2016. The trio sonata known as ‘Saul’ is a joyful work, mature in style and mastery, summing up Handel at the height of his London powers.
The Band will also be joined by two of their longest-standing colleagues, soprano Nicki Kennedy and bass-baritone Matthew Brook for Handel’s wonderful Italian cantata Apollo e Dafne.
Apollo e Dafne is a piece the Band has always loved, and when Matthew Brook mentioned that he wanted to sing the role of Apollo with the Band, it seemed too good a chance to pass up. The two vocal roles bring Matthew Brook and Nicki Kennedy together on stage again, something they’ve enjoyed over the years with The Brook Street Band in other Handel works such as Acis and Galatea.
Nicki Kennedy said: "I have enjoyed working with this group for nearly all of the 20 years that they have been going, and the bond that has formed between us enables us to have a level of communication when playing that is very liberating. The happiest performance moments of my career have probably been with this group on the stage at the Wigmore Hall, so I really can't wait to perform in this concert of Apollo and Dafne."
Matthew Brook said: "I'm delighted to be returning to help celebrate BSB's 20th Brithday Concert at the Wigmore Hall. This is the perfect venue for this scale of piece, and the players have spent their entire careers playing this great composer's music, so they understand him well. So, for me, it will feel like stepping into a shiny Bentley, when we meet to rehearse and perform this stunning, dramatic work, that covers all the major emotions known to mankind, love, infatuation, lust, rejection, determination, power, scorn, self pity! It's all there in Apollo e Dafne. "