The English Concert

Performers

• Alice Coote, Mezzo-Soprano
• Jonathan Manson, Cello
• Rachel Podger, Violin
• The English Concert
  Harry Bicket, Harpsichord
• William Carter, Lute

Program

• VIVALDI Sonata in D Minor for Two Violins and Continuo, Op. 1, No. 12, "Follia"
• MONTEVERDI Lamento d'Arianna
• VIVALDI Concerto in D Major for Violin, Strings and Continuo, RV 208, "Il Grosso Mogul"
• DOWLAND "Come again, sweet love doth now invite"
• DOWLAND "Weep you no more, sad fountains"
• DOWLAND "If my complaints could passions move"
• DOWLAND Lachrimae Pavan
• DOWLAND "In darkness let me dwell"
• VIVALDI Concerto in C Minor for Cello and Strings, RV 401
• HANDEL La Lucrezia, HWV 145
• 
  Encore:
• PACHELBEL Canon in D
• 
  Program is approximately 1 hour, 25 minutes, including one intermission

Bios

• Alice Coote
  
  Alice Coote studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the National Opera Studio. She has been awarded the Brigitte Fassbaender Award for Lieder Interpretation and the Kathleen Ferrier Award.
  
  In concert, Ms. Coote has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic under such conductors as Kent Nagano, Libor Pešek, Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Boulez, Mark Elder, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Valery Gergiev, Christoph von Dohnányi, Nicholas McGegan, and Philippe Herreweghe. In 2001, she made her debut at the BBC Proms.
  
  Ms. Coote’s recordings include a highly acclaimed recital disc of Schumann and Mahler for EMI with Julius Drake and a recent recording of Mahler’s Second Symphony for EMI Virgin with Natalie Dessay and Paavo Järvi.
  
  Her operatic roles include Gluck’s Orfeo, Handel’s Ariodante, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Sesto in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Hansel in Hänsel und Gretel, Handel’s Orlando, and Bizet’s Carmen for opera companies that include the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; English National Opera; Glyndebourne Opera; Opera North; Scottish Opera; Opéra national de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, and the Salzburg Festival.

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• Jonathan Manson
  
  Jonathan Manson pursues a varied career as a performer on both cello and viola da gamba. He was born in Edinburgh and received his formative training under the direction of Jane Cowan, later going on to study with Steven Doane at the Eastman School of Music in New York. While in the US, he became involved with the performance of early music, and from there went to The Hague to study viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken.
  
  While still a student, Mr. Manson became a founding member of the viol quartet Phantasm, which has since toured worldwide and earned several Gramophone Awards. For 10 years, he was the principal cellist of Ton Koopman’s Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, with whom he performed and recorded more than 150 Bach cantatas and, together with Yo-Yo Ma, Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos. He has recently been appointed co-principal cello of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The English Concert, and he appears regularly as soloist and guest principal with many of Europe’s leading early music ensembles. Mr. Manson is a founding member of Retrospect Trio.
  
  A longstanding partnership with renowned harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock has led to critically acclaimed recordings of Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concert (together with Rachel Podger), and the Bach sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord. Recently, they have teamed up with flautist Emmanuel Pahud to give Bach recitals throughout Europe and the US.

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• Rachel Podger
  
  Rachel Podger is one of the most creative talents to emerge in the field of period performance. Since 1990, she has established herself as a leading interpreter of Baroque and Classical music, with recordings ranging from early 17th-century music to Mozart.
  
  After beginnings with The Palladian Ensemble and Florilegium, she was leader of The English Concert from 1997 to 2002. In 2004, Ms. Podger began a guest directorship with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, touring Europe and the US. Over the years, Ms. Podger has enjoyed numerous collaborations with other orchestras, including Arte dei Suonatori (Poland); Musica Angelica and Santa Fe Pro Musica (US); the European Union Baroque Orchestra; and the Holland Baroque Society.
  
  Ms. Podger records exclusively for Channel Classics; her acclaimed interpretations of Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin, and sonatas for violin and harpsichord (with Trevor Pinnock) have received widespread critical attention. Ms. Podger’s recording of Telemann’s fantasies for solo violin won the Diapason d’Or, and her CD of Vivaldi’s violin concertos, “La Stravaganza,” received both the Diapason d’Or and the 2003 Gramophone Award for Best Baroque Instrumental Recording.
  
  In 2006, Ms. Podger became Artistic Director of the Brecon Baroque Festival in Wales, an event that features a Baroque Ball, as well as concerts by Brecon Baroque and the Brecon Baroque Festival Orchestra, comprising young professionals, international students, and local players.

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• The English Concert
  
  Founded by harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock in 1973, The English Concert is one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world, with an unsurpassed reputation for inspiring performances of Baroque and Classical music in the concert hall and on CD.
  
  Highlights of recent seasons include European and US tours with countertenor David Daniels, a recording of Handel arias with Mark Padmore that won a 2008 BBC Music Magazine Award, Handel’s Samson at the 2009 BBC Proms, residencies at the Victoria & Albert and Handel House museums in London, and the first English Concert Master Class for young harpsichordist-directors in London.
  
  In 2007, Harry Bicket was appointed The English Concert’s artistic director and has led the orchestra in tours to the US, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, and the Middle East. Mr. Bicket is renowned particularly for his work with the finest singers of the age; English Concert collaborators have included Vesselina Kasarova, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Sara Mingardo, Lucy Crowe, Elizabeth Watts, Ian Bostridge, Daniele de Niese, Rosemary Joshua, and Sarah Connolly.
  
  Forthcoming engagements include a return to the Barbican Hall Great Performers series in London with Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater; tours to France, Belgium, and Spain; and a chamber music tour of the Canary Islands. The English Concert returns to the US also with Harry Bicket and countertenor Andreas Scholl, visiting Los Angeles, Berkeley, Chicago, Boston, and New York.
  
  The English Concert also works with distinguished guest directors, including oboist Alfredo Bernardini, violinist Fabio Biondi, and harpsichordists Laurence Cummings and Kenneth Weiss.
  
  
  Harry Bicket
  
  Internationally renowned as a conductor, Harry Bicket is especially noted for his interpretation of Baroque and Classical repertoire. He has won international praise for his work in opera, including at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Opera North; Bavarian State Opera; and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. He made his debut at The Metropolitan Opera in 2004 in a new production of Handel’s Rodelinda with Renée Fleming and David Daniels, and returned to conduct Giulio Cesare in Egitto in 2006 and La clemenza di Tito in 2008. In the US, he has also appeared at Los Angeles Opera, as well as the Glimmerglass, Spoleto, Aspen, and Santa Fe festivals, among others.
  
  In the concert hall, Mr. Bicket has conducted the symphony orchestras of Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver; the Minnesota Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; and the New York, Royal Stockholm, Rotterdam, and Royal Liverpool philharmonic orchestras. Most recently, he has made acclaimed visits to leading European summer festivals, including an appearance at the 2009 BBC Proms with The English Concert and Mark Padmore in Handel’s Samson. In recent seasons, he has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony orchestras, and made his Japanese debut with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

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• William Carter
  
  Born in Florida, William Carter received a thorough training as a modern guitarist with Bruce Holzman at The Florida State University before falling in love with the earlier plucked instruments and the world of historical performance. Following initial guidance from Pat O’Brien in New York City, he travelled to London as a Fulbright Scholar, where he studied lute with Nigel North and quickly established himself as one of the leading players on old instruments.
  
  Concert tours and festival appearances followed throughout Europe, Asia, and North and South America—both as an orchestral player, and as a chamber musician and soloist with his own group, Palladians. Mr. Carter has an extensive discography (including 10 albums with Palladians), and has performed on numerous recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music and The English Concert, for both of which he acts as principal lutenist.
  
  Mr. Carter is also an enthusiastic teacher, and is professor of Baroque studies and lute at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. In 2005, he released his first solo album, La Guitarre Royalle: The Music of Francesco Corbetta, which has been widely praised and was recognized in Gramophone’s Critic’s Choice list. In 2007, Mr. Carter released his second solo album, La Guitarra Espanola, which was named Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

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