Events at this location

What better way to herald PBO’s 40th anniversary season than to revel in the rich combination of natural trumpet along with soprano and strings? Our program includes Handel’s youthful Gloria – rediscovered in 2001 – and concludes with Bach’s exuberant cantata, “Praise the Lord in all lands,” featuring PBO principal trumpet Kris Kwapis and soprano Arwen Myers. Nestled between lies a double violin concerto from Vivaldi’s celebrated collection, ‘’The Harmonic Inspiration.” Small wonder it inspired Bach to arrange it for the organ.

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/shout-for-joy-pbo-is-40

Chamber arrangements of larger works continue to be popular in a huge range of styles. During the Baroque era, they were an ideal way to make music accessible in domestic settings while allowing composers to hone their skills. But make no mistake, these arrangements are in no way poor copies of the originals. Rather, they give familiar works a new lease on life and show us how creative interaction with musical material can yield powerful results.

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/by-arrangement-orchestral-works-for-the-drawing-room

Legend tells us that Johann Sebastian Bach exclaimed, “’Tis Prussian Blue! It fades easily!” when describing the music of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. This was surely a teasing reference to the galant style, with its open musical textures and general avoidance of “old-school” counterpoint. Our program offsets the contrapuntal wizardry of Bach senior with this new style – and is especially topical for your new Artistic Director in featuring a set of variations on God Save the King by Johann Christian, the so-called “London Bach.”

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/a-musical-offering-bach-old-vs-new

Rejoice! The beloved holiday tradition returns featuring Handel’s complete oratorio. Discover why Messiah is one of the most-performed works in history, and experience it as it was meant to be heard performed on period instruments. Directed by illustrious guest artist John Butt, this year’s concert features professional chorus Cappella Romana and world-class soloists soprano Camille Ortiz, mezzo-soprano Hannah Penn, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca.

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/handels-messiah-2023/

Rejoice! The beloved holiday tradition returns featuring Handel’s complete oratorio. Discover why Messiah is one of the most-performed works in history, and experience it as it was meant to be heard performed on period instruments. Directed by illustrious guest artist John Butt, this year’s concert features professional chorus Cappella Romana and world-class soloists soprano Camille Ortiz, mezzo-soprano Hannah Penn, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca.

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/handels-messiah-2023/

Rejoice! The beloved holiday tradition returns featuring Handel’s complete oratorio. Discover why Messiah is one of the most-performed works in history, and experience it as it was meant to be heard performed on period instruments. Directed by illustrious guest artist John Butt, this year’s concert features professional chorus Cappella Romana and world-class soloists soprano Camille Ortiz, mezzo-soprano Hannah Penn, tenor James Reese, and bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca.

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/handels-messiah-2023/

The US premiere of a newly-revised opera pasticcio by Stephen Pettitt (librettist) and Julian Perkins (musical arrangements and recitatives).

A reimagined delicacy that dares to ask, “what would dinner with Handel really be like?” Set in Handel’s London home, this chamber opera revolves around an uncomfortably intimate surprise dinner party thrown by Handel’s cook, the singer Gustavus Waltz. We imagine conversations and confrontations between Handel, rival composer Johann Christoph Pepusch, spurned diva Francesca Cuzzoni, and Handel’s dearest friend, Mary Pendarves. Music by Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Arne, and Pepusch is sensitively and wittily re-texted (in English) by esteemed journalist Stephen Pettitt, with recitatives newly composed by Julian Perkins. Fast- moving, funny, and touching, this 90-minute romp explores Handel’s complex personality through carefully researched and often telling references to real events. Join us for an operatic feast that serves selections of both Handel the genius, and the fallible human being, in an unusual and fascinating light.

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/dinner-with-handel/

To learn more visit: https://pbo.org/concerts-events/the-italian-connection-the-theater-of-stylus-fantasticus/