Spanish Nights
Star soprano Sherezade Panthaki returns to the Whidbey Island Music Festival singing arias from Handel’s first opera, Almira. Written when Handel was just 19 years old, Almira was a roaring success, and enjoyed 20 performances in Hamburg when it opened. Pacific MusicWorks performs the most beautiful, most thrilling arias from this early masterwork. Spanish composer Irribaren’s thrilling cantata “Prosigue acorde Lira” rounds out the program along with instrumental works by Corelli, Boccherini, Soler and Pla.
Please note this is an outdoor concert!
“Panthaki is a new trailblazing type among the new female singers of old music…when she sings it is not simply an aria, it is an event” Hannoversche Allgemeine
Program
Pla g minor trio sonata José Plà (1728-1762) and Juan Batista Plà (ca. 1720-1773)
Allegro ma non tanto
Andante
Allegro
Fandango from the Guitar quintet, G 448 Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)
Cantata: Prosigue acorde Lira Juan Francés de Iribarren (1699-1767)
I. Tocata: Adagio
II. Allegro
III. Recitado: Prosigue acorde Lira, la dulce suavidad
IV. Area. Cantable: Ya sonoros acentos
V. Recitado: Todo celo se mira victorioso
VI. Area. Spirituoso: Llevando el poder
Intermission
Trio Sonata in D major, Op 3 No 2 Archangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
Grave
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Quintet for Harpsichord and Strings Antonio Soler (1729-1783)
Allegretto
Minuetto 1/2
Allegro assai
Minuetto con variazioni
Arias from “Almira, Queen of Castille” Georg Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Pacific MusicWorks
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Tekla Cunningham and Christine Wilkinson Beckman, baroque violins
Rocio Lopez, baroque cello
Stephen Stubbs, baroque guitar and lute
Maxine Eilander, baroque harp
Henry Lebedinsky, harpsichord