Sunday 2 December 2018 7.45pm St Machar’s Cathedral

Handel: Israel in Egypt

Aberdeen Bach Choir
Musical Director Peter Parfitt

Aberdeen Sinfonietta
Leader Bryan Dargie

David Gerrard and Alison MacDonald Continuo

Elinor Rolfe Johnson Soprano
Phillipa Thomas Alto
Ronan Busfield Tenor
James Williams Bass

First ever performance by Aberdeen Bach Choir of George Frideric Handel’s Israel in Egypt.

This oratorio draws directly on passages from the Old Testament. The 1739 premiere was not well received, and Handel immediately set about to revise the work. It is now a favourite worldwide, not least because of the intense and almost operatic drama Handel brings to the music, both for the double chorus and for the SATB soloists.