English Concert orchestra to perform "Theodora"

The English Concert orchestra will revive George Frideric Handel’s 265-year-old tragic oratorio, “Theodora,” during its first Chapel Hill appearance tonight at Memorial Hall.

The concert, which is part of Carolina Performing Arts’ season, features the England-based orchestra led by conductor Harry Bicket and features Trinity Wall Street Choir of New York and a cast of soloists.

The oratorio tells the story of two lovers, Theodora, a Christian martyr and Didymus, a Roman soldier, who are condemned to death after refusing to give up their Christian faith in fourth century Antioch.

Elizabeth Joyner, audience development and engagement coordinator for CPA, said this show is one of CPA’s first ventures into early music performance because it will be a historically-informed performance with musicians playing period instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries.

“The thing with ‘Theodora’ is that it was originally written as an oratorio,” Joyner said.

“An oratorio would be like a concert piece, sort of styled in the manner of opera but unstaged, meaning that none of the musicians have costumes. None of the singers have costumes or props.”

Joyner said the show’s text and performers will bring the audience into the drama without using the visual cues that would normally be in a fully-staged opera.

Bicket, who is also The English Concert’s artistic director, has been interacting with students and the community with members of the orchestra through classroom visits and master classes leading up to the performance.

“The whole group has been amazing to work with, so we’re dealing with not only some of the world’s best early music performers but also some of the really nicest artists that we’ve ever had to work with,” Joyner said.

UNC music professor Annegret Fauser is teaching “Theodora” in her MUSC 142 class, called Great Musical Works. Fauser said that for Handel, an oratorio was a type of theater for the ears because the story’s entire drama has to be delivered through music and words.

“To perform this kind of music, you have to really think about what you are doing,” she said.

“How do you approach music that’s 265 years old? Do you want to recreate that sound from the past? The performers have been engaging with that quite thoughtfully and for a long time. You want to create something that plays on the sound from the past but for our ears.”

Fauser also said the unfamiliar music of “Theodora” encourages audiences to listen in new ways.

“This piece has captured our imaginations because it has questions we are asking,” she said. “We are in a society where we are thinking about torture, thinking about how you deal with people of other faiths, and it asks us these questions with this enormously wonderful music.”

Aaron Shackelford, CPA’s Mellon postdoctoral fellow, said “Theodora” gives the community a chance to ask questions about how one examines the past and about the assumptions that are brought to these types of performances.

“It’s really a way to think about, what does this mean to encounter a work of art hundreds of years later and to really make an effort to recreate what that work of art’s experience was like for its original audience,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity to really see all of these different strands of our world coming together for one unique performance, and I think it’s going to be a truly fascinating show.”

arts@dailytarheel.com