Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) has announced a revised season of live concerts in the new year, which will follow their much anticipated performance of Handel’s Messiah Live from the Barbican on Sat 19 December 2020.
AAM will present four concerts from February 2021 in London and Cambridge, which will be both live and live-streamed, available for local and international audiences alike to enjoy. Each performance will be available on demand for at least 48 hours after the live performance.
The programme marks Richard Egarr’s 15th and final season as AAM Music Director. For his final London concert in the post (Tues 9 March 2021) Egarr [pictured] is joined by esteemed violinist Rachel Podger for music by Maria Grimani, Arcangelo Corelli and culminating in Vivaldi’s beloved The Four Seasons, as part of the Live from the Barbican series. Egarr will also direct a programme of virtuosic Venetian music from West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge on Weds 14 April 2021.
Incoming Music Director Laurence Cummings directs a programme of music for strings by Muffat, Bach, Telemann and Handel (Fri 12 February 2021) before he begins in post September 2021.
Revised 2021 programme
Fri 12 Feb 2021, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Muffat Armonico Tributo Sonata in G
Bach Violin continuo sonata in E, BWV 1023
Telemann Viola concerto in G major
Handel Sonata in G Op.5, No.4
Academy of Ancient Music
Laurence Cummings, director & harpsichord
Tues 9 Mar 2021, Barbican Hall, London (Live from the Barbican series)
Corelli Concerto grosso in D major Op.6, No.1
Grimani Sinfonia from Pallade e Marte
Corelli Concerto grosso in F major Op.6, No.2
Vivaldi The Four Seasons
Academy of Ancient Music
Rachel Podger, violin
Richard Egarr, director & harpsichord
Weds 14 Apr 2021, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
works by Dario Castello, Barbara Strozzi and Claudio Monteverdi TBC
Academy of Ancient Music
Richard Egarr, director & harpsichord
Fri 21 May 2021, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
Mozart Divertimento K 270
Beethoven Duo No.1 in C major
Beethoven Sextet Op.71
Krommer Partita in F major Op.73
Academy of Ancient Music
Peter Whelan, director & bassoon
New Recordings
On 29 January 2021, AAM, Cambridge Handel Opera Company (CHOC) and Cambridge Early Music (CEM) will release the first fully professional recording of John Eccles’ Semele on period instruments, directed by Julian Perkins. Composed some decades before Handel’s setting of the same libretto, Eccles’ Semele of 1706 offers a vivid contrast with that better-known work and shows how English opera might have developed after Purcell’s death had Handel not moved to London in 1712. More information: https://www.aam.co.uk/product/eccles-semele/
AAM’s future recording plans include the completion of AAM and Robert Levin’s Mozart Keyboard concerto cycle, almost 30 years after its inception; and the second book of Dario Castello’s Sonate concertate in stil moderno directed from the harpsichord by Richard Egarr.