Wuhan, 13 December 2016
Shanghai, 15 December 2016
Beijing, 17 December 2016
The English Concert will perform a Shakespearean programme consisting of England’s best music of the time. Henry Purcell, among the closest composers of the post-Shakespearean era, wrote The Fairy Queen as a restoration of The Bard’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1692 and consisted of his finest theatre music. George Frideric Handel, the Baroque master that conquered 18th century London, wrote Giulio Cesare into a high drama of heroes and love. Although both works are not a direct setting of Shakespeare’s words to music, they offer a glimpse of contemporary audiences, with which these works were highly popular.
The English Concert, with Artistic Director Harry Bicket, is one of the most active and refined early music ensembles, renowned for its passion, sophistication and technical mastery. Welcoming their return to Hong Kong, the orchestra will perform, along with The Fairy Queen and Giulio Cesare, contemporary songs and instrumental music by Purcell, Locke and others, all of whom fell under the spell of the inspirational Shakespeare.