William Berger joins Philharmonia Baroque for Judas Maccabaeus

William Berger

The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra will perform Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus, a loose telling of the story of Hanukkah. Despite telling the story of the Maccabees, it has never quite evolved into a Jewish alternative to the composer's far more popular Messiah.

The oratorio was written five years after Messiah in 1746 and was premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre in London the following year.

Philharmonia Baroque's performance will feature barihunk William Berger as Simon, who sings the aria “Arm, arm, ye brave!” He'll be joined by the sensational tenor Nicholas Phan, soprano Robin Johannsen, mezzo-soprano Sara Couden and baroque specialist Nicholas McGegan conducting. 

Gerald Finley sings “Arm, arm, ye brave!”:

Handel's oratorio had a far more secular inspiration than the biblical text might suggest, as it was composed in commemoration of the British defeat of Charles Stuart’s Jacobite forces at the battle of Culloden in April 1746.

The events depicted in the oratorio are from the period 170–160 BC when Judea was ruled by the Seleucid Empire which undertook to destroy the Jewish religion. Being ordered to worship Zeus, many Jews obeyed under the threat of persecution; however, some did not. One who defied was the elderly priest Mattathias who killed a fellow Jew who was about to offer a pagan sacrifice. After tearing down a pagan altar, Mattathias retreated to the hills and gathered others who were willing to fight for their faith.

The oratorio will be performed on December 5 in San Francisco, December 6 in Palo Alot and on December 7 and 8 in Berkeley. Tickets are available online.

Philip Cutlip to perform Handel rarity Joseph and his Brethren

Philip Cutlip

Barihunk Philip Cutlip will join the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for Handel's rarely performed oratorio Joseph and his Brethren. He will be joined by tenor Nicholas Phan, mezzo-sopranos Abigail Levis and Diana Moore, and sopranos Sherezade Panthaki and Gabrielle Haigh.

The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra has performed just about everything Handel ever wrote,  except the composer’s 1743 oratorio Joseph and His Brethren. This Baroque rarity recounts Joseph’s reconciliation with his Jewish family in Egypt. The oratorio gave Handel the opportunity to depict the grandeur of the Pharaoh’s court and the faith of Joseph’s estranged brothers in a plot of intrigue and mistaken identity.

Sandrine Piau sings "Prophetic Raptures" from  Joseph and his Brethren:

Performances are on December 14th in San Francisco, December 15th in Palo Alto, and December 16th and 17th in Berkeley. Tickets are available online. 

Cutlip will also be performing the much more familiar Messiah with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra from December 8-10 in San Francisco, Berkeley and Rohnert Park. Tickets are available online.

Our 2018 Barihunks Calendar, which includes 20 of opera's sexiest men is now available for purchase HERE. In response to reader demand, we've also added a Barihunks Photo Book this year, which includes additional photos that don't appear in the calendar. You can purchase that HERE. The New Year is approaching faster than you think! 

William Berger in Joshua with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

William Berger

We celebrated International Redhead Day yesterday and included barihunk William Berger in our post. Somehow we overlooked his upcoming as Caleb in Handel's Joshua with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Handel's oratorio Joshua was completed in 1747 and is the last of a consecutive run of four oratorios with military themes (the others are The Occasional Oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus, and Alexander Balus). The libretto by Thomas Morell is taken from the Old Testament book of Joshua, and conflates a number of episodes that relate to the hero's campaigns against Jericho, Ai, and the five Kings. To avoid what would otherwise have been an almost continuous succession of warlike episodes, Morell expands the biblical roles of the young warrior Othniel and his betrothed Achsah, the daughter of the elderly patriarchal warrior Caleb.

James Rutherford sings "Shall I in Mamre's fertile plain":

Joshua is divided into three acts, the first of which immediately establishes the grand scale of the work in the opening scenes celebrating the Jews' miraculous passage across the Jordan, the conclusion of 40 years in the wilderness. In Act II, Joshua is in the process of laying siege to Jericho, and orders the famous final trumpet call and the walls fall. Act III includes some of Handel's best music, including Caleb's "Shall I in Mamre's fertile plain" and the great choral showstopper "See the conq'ring hero comes." It also includes one of the composer's most famous arias, Achsah's "Oh! had I Jubel's lyre."

Performances are on December 1 in San Francisco Friday December 2 in Palo Alto, December 3 in Berkeley and December 4 in Lafayette. Tickets are available online

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