Copeland Park, Peckham – Saturday 3 October 2020

Tickets now on sale: £20

Further details: https://www.festivalvoices.com/upcoming

Innovative choral ensemble Festival Voices has today announced a one-off, cross-genre performance at Copeland Park, Peckham, showcasing a varied programme of well-known works by Handel, remixed live with electronic music by DJ and producer Nico Bentley.

Handel Remixed II will take place in Peckham’s cultural capital, Copeland Park, as a one-off event in partnership with the London Handel Festival. Musical Director Gregory Batsleer will conduct Festival Voices and Ensemble FV, in a programme of choral-electronic mixology featuring Handelian choruses and arias from the Coronation Anthems, Jephtha and Tamerlano.

Festival Voices was co-founded by conductor Gregory Batsleer in 2017 with a mission to bring bold, collaborative choral music to new audiences in unexpected venues, challenging conventions and innovating tradition.

Gregory Batsleer says: ‘At a time when culture is needed more than ever, we’re extremely excited to be bringing music to a live audience again. The current pandemic has highlighted an extraordinary need for the reinvention and constant innovation of music in order to survive into the future and we hope that Festival Voices’ ability to work with communities and venues that are not traditionally associated with classical music is one important way of doing this.

Many of the composers Festival Voices perform were considered radicals and eccentrics in their time, who pushed the boundaries and redefined the music of the era. By taking choral music out of its usual context and cross-genre collaboration, I hope we are continuing this tradition and in doing so bringing choral music to a whole new audience.’

DJ and producer Nico Bentley says: ‘Without doubt the standout features of the baroque repertoire are a fixation of both rhythm and pulse plus they love a solid harmonic progression. This is also the backbone of all electronic music.  The fusing together of two genres like this is both an exciting and thrilling opportunity to experiment and explore how the fundaments of music haven’t changed for over 500 years. The style of Handel’s music lends itself brilliantly to incorporating beats commonly heard in clubs throughout the world.’

The event follows Festival Voices’ exhilarating debut at the London Handel Festival in 2019 and is rescheduled from earlier this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The London Handel Festival is an annual celebration of the work of George Frideric Handel. Each year the festival presents a critically acclaimed season of concerts, recitals, talk and walks.

Samir Savant, Festival Director, London Handel Festival, says: ‘The audience response to Festival Voices’ debut in 2019 was extraordinary and we are thrilled to be working in partnership with them again on this one-off event, presenting the music of Handel in a new and strikingly direct way.’

The performance will take place 4pm, repeated at 7pm, with around 120 tickets available for each performance. The event will be COVID-safe with full audience guidelines published on the Festival Voices and London Handel Festival websites. Tickets are released today priced at £20. For more information and to buy tickets visit: [url].

Full programme:

• Zadok the Priest (Coronation Anthems)
• Eternal Source of Light Divine (Ode to Queen Anne)
• Chorus of the Babylonians (Belshazzar)
• Ombra mai fu (Serse)
• How Dark, o Lord, are thy decrees (Jephtha)
• Nel mondo e nell’abisso (Tamerlano)
• A suoi piedi (Tamerlano)
• The King Shall Rejoice (Coronation Anthems)