“Messiah” and “Easter Oratorio” on tap in MOB’s 2021-22 season

Sun Jun 06, 2021 at 12:01 am

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Jane Glover will open Music of the Baroque’s 2021-22 season September 19-20 with a festive Handel program. File photo: Elliot Mandel

Hours before the streamed final concert of its pandemic season on Sunday, Music of the Baroque released details of its 2021-22 lineup—all live and in-person.

“We are in the business of giving live concerts, and while we were thrilled to be able to offer our audience a virtual season for our 50th anniversary, this new season restores two important elements: our magnificent chorus and our audience,” said MOB executive director Declan McGovern in a released statement.

“Concerts just aren’t the same when there is no audience in the hall,” he added. “This is such a vital part of the chemistry that makes every live concert special. The return of our chorus also marks an important step as we get back to normal and see the restoration of the full Music of the Baroque ensemble.”

Much of next season’s lineup reprises 2020-21 programs that had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 performing strictures.

MOB will mark the return of normalcy with Dame Jane Glover leading a program of festive Handel to open the 51st season September 19-20. In addition to Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music (Suite No. 2), the program will include Telemann’s Concerto No. 1 for Three Trumpets, Handel’s Concerto a due cori No. 1 and the world premiere of Stacy Garrop’s Spectacle of Light, commissioned by MOB.

Bach’s epic St. Matthew Passion fell victim to the pandemic last season and will be delayed, it seems, for a future opportunity. There is some recompense with Glover leading Bach’s Easter Oratorio April 10-11, 2022 with soloists Yulia Van Doren, Elizabeth DeShong, James Gilchrist, and Michael Sumuel. The all-Bach program also includes the Sinfonia in D Major and the Cantata No. 55, “Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht.”

Nicholas Kraemer will direct Handel’s Messiah in Thanksgiving weekend concerts November 28-29 with soloists Sherezade Panthaki, Allyson McHardy, Richard Croft and Matthew Brook.

MOB’s usual January Mozart birthday program will come a month later than usual on February 27-28. Glover will conduct the Overture to Lucio Silla and Symphony No. 40 with Chicago native Anthony McGill as soloist in the Clarinet Concerto.

Soprano Amanda Forsythe is the guest artist for a mostly vocal program March 20-21 led by Kraemer. The program includes Haydn’s Scena di Berenice and Symphony No. 11, and arias from Purcell (“Dido’s Lament”) and Handel (Alceste and Giulio Cesare).

MOB’s season will conclude May 8-9. Both Haydn brothers will be represented with Glover leading Michael Haydn’s Symphony No. 26 and Joseph Haydn’s “Creation” Mass in B flat.

Other programs will feature Scottish conductor John Butt making his MOB debut October 17-18 in a concertante program (Bach, Vivaldi, Corelli and Albinoni) with MOB musicians as soloists. And Andrew Megill will conduct the annual Holiday Brass and Choral concerts December 16-19.

All programs except the holiday concerts will take place at MOB’s two base venues at the Harris Theater and North Shore Center in Skokie.

MOB will also present “Baroque in the Park” September 10 with Glover leading a preview concert of season highlights in Millennium Park.

Subscriptions for the 2021-22 concert season are now on sale. Call 312-551-1414 or go to baroque.org. Single tickets will go on sale in late August.

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