Händels Heldinnen

A queen, a sorceress and the daughter of a general – Cleopatra, Armida and Almirena are heroines from George Frideric Handel's operas. They show anger as in the aria "Furie terribile", despair as in "Se pietà di me non senti" or tear-jerking grief as in "Lascia ch'io pianga", one of the most famous and moving opera arias ever. The young Swiss soprano Chelsea Zurflüh, 1st prize winner of the "Concours de Genève" and winner of the "SWR Young Opera Stars 2025" competition, dives deep into the soul of these special women and transforms their emotions into music with her expressive voice with an enormous height. The La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel will accompany her under Maurice Steger and will set strong musical accents with Johann Sebastian Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 4" and recorder concertos, in which Steger can be heard as a virtuoso soloist. Programme: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (c. 1690–1758) Chaconne in A major for two violins and b.c. Georg Friedrich Handel (1685–1959) Aria «Se pietà di me non senti» from the opera «Giulio Cesare» Concerto in G minor, HWV 396, for recorder, strings and b.c. Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–1759) Aria «No, no di Libia fra l'arene» from the opera «Silla» – intermission – George Frideric Handel «The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba» from the oratorio «Salomon», HWV 67 Concerto in G minor, HWV 396, for recorder, strings and b.c. Aria «Furrie terribile» by Armida from the opera «Rinaldo» Chaconne in G major, HWV 434 for harpsichord solo and string overture to the opera «Rinaldo», HWV 7a Aria «Lascia ch'io pianga» from the opera «Rinaldo» Aria «Da tempeste il legno infranto» from the opera «Giulio Cesare» Ensemble: La Cetra Barockorchester Basel Conductor: Maurice Steger, recorder & conductor Soloist: Chelsea Zurflüh, soprano Sebastian Wienand, harpsichord

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