Program features works by Baroque composers Handel and Porpora

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2014 at 8 PM

WHAT:            The period-instrument ensemble Venice Baroque Orchestra joined by countertenor Philippe Jaroussky will present arias and other works by George Frideric Handel and Nicola Porpora at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at 8 pm. The program explores the relationship between the two Baroque composers and their famed singing stars, Farinelli and Carestini.

The performance is the first date of a United States tour, featuring selections from a recently released recording of outstanding opera arias by Neapolitan composer and singing teacher Nicola Antonio Porpora, whose most famous student was the castrato Farinelli. Immediately following the performance, there will be a CD signing at the LA Phil store.

Founded in 1997 by Baroque scholar and harpsichordist Andrea Marcon, the Venice Baroque Orchestra is recognized as one of the premier ensembles devoted to period instrument performance. The Orchestra has received wide critical acclaim for its concert and opera performances throughout North America, Europe, South America, Japan, and Korea.

Highlights of the 2013/14 season include extensive tours of Europe, the United States, and Asia with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky; concerts with contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux in France and Belgium; performances with cellist Gautier Capuçon including one at Vienna’s Musikverein; and tours with recorder player Maurice Steger this winter and violinist Giuliano Carmignola next summer.

The countertenor Philippe Jaroussky – just over 30 years old – has already established himself as one of the major singers in the international musical world as confirmed by the French Victoires de la Musique, broadcast live on national TV (Revelation Artiste Lyrique in 2004, Artiste lyrique de l'année in 2007 and in 2010, CD of the Year 2009), and the ECHO Klassik Awards in Germany in 2008 in Munich.

His technique allows him the most audacious nuances and impressive pyrotechnics. Philippe Jaroussky has an extremely large repertoire in the Baroque area, from the refinements of the Italian Seicento with Monteverdi, Sances, and Rossi to the staggering brilliance of Handel or Vivaldi’s music – the latter being the composer he has performed the most these last few years. Jaroussky has recently decided to explore a very different repertoire both contemporary and modern with the pianist Jerôme Ducros. As a result, they are performing the melodies composed by Marc André Dalbavie from the poems of Louise Labbé and the French melodies of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, in many countries including the U.K., Germany, the U.S., and more.

For more information and complete artist biographies, please visit: http://www.laphil.com

WHO:              VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
PHILIPPE JAROUSSKY, countertenor

WHEN:           Wednesday, February 5, 2014, at 8 PM

WHERE:       WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
111 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012

PROGRAM:   PORPORA       Overture from Il Germanico
PORPORA       “Mira in cielo” from Arianna e Teseo
PORPORA       “Si pietoso il tuo labbro” from Semiramide riconosciuta
HANDEL         Concerto Grosso in A minor, Op. 6, No. 4
HANDEL         “Mi lusinga il dolce affetto” from Alcina
HANDEL         “Sta nell’ircana” from Alcina
HANDEL         “Agitato da fiere tempeste” from Oreste
HANDEL         “Scherza infida” from Ariodante
HANDEL         Concerto Grosso in G major, Op. 6, No. 1
PORPORA       “Alto Giove” from Polifemo (autograph version of 1735)
PORPORA       “Nell’attendere il mio bene” from Polifemo

TICKETS:       Tickets are now on sale at LAPhil.com, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000, or by calling Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000.  Tickets can also be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets. For more information, please call 323.850.2000.

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01.28.2013