Handel’s “Esther” and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”on tap for Music of the Baroque’s 2017-18 season

Wed Mar 08, 2017 at 11:22 am

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Eric Owens will perform the role of the title prophet in Mendelssohn's "Elijah" in Music of the Baroque's 2017-18 season.
Eric Owens will sing the role of the title prophet in Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” in Music of the Baroque’s 2017-18 season.

Music of the Baroque will offer eight programs once again in its 2017-18 season.

The season will open September 16-17 with Mendelssohn’s epic oratorio Elijah, a work not performed by MOB in a quarter-century. Jane Glover will conduct an all-star cast with Eric Owens, Susannah Phillips, Elizabeth DeShong and William Burden.

Principal guest conductor Nicholas Kraemer leads a program November 19-20 pairing double concertos by Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Choral director William Jon Gray directs the Brass and Choral holiday concerts December 14-17.

Jane Glover will open the new year (January 28-29, 2018) with a Mozart program coupling the Symphony No., 33 with both of the composer’s Sinfonia concertantes (for violin and viola, and for winds).

Handel’s oratorio Esther will make its MOB debut February 25 and 27 with Glover on the podium. The title-role soprano is TBA, while other soloists include Nicholas Phan, Colin Ainsworth and Christopheren Nomura.

Bach’s mighty St. John Passion will be performed March 25-26 with Glover on the podium and Thomas Cooley as the Evangelist. Paul Agnew directs a program April 22-23 featuring Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Handel’s Salve Regina with rising Polish countertenor Jakob Jozef Orlinski and soprano Sherezade Panthaki.

Kraemer will wrap the season May 17-18 with a mostly concertante program including Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Orchestral Suite No. 4 and Concerto for Flute, Violin and Harpsichord, along with Telemann’s Concerto for three violins and three oboes.

Subscriptions for the 2017-18 season are now on sale.  baroque.org; 312-551-1414.

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