Händel Recital

The focal point of the concert consists of two representative sacred music works by Georg Friedrich Händel. The “Dixit Dominus” is a musical setting of Psalm 110 (“The Lord said unto my Lord”), which features five soloists, a four-part choir, and an orchestra. The work was composed in Rome in April 1707. Silete Venti (Be Silent, Winds) is a five-movement motet for soprano solo and orchestra, written in London in the 1720s, with musical material that is identical to that of several other works by Händel. The “Agrippina Overture” is the introductory music to the opera of the same title (1709). The composer wrote all pieces of the highly significant Opus 6 series, containing twelve concerto grossos, in the autumn of 1739. The Oboe Concerto in G minor was likely composed during Händel’s stay in Hamburg in 1704/05. Emőke Baráth completed her studies at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. She won third prize at the Antonín Dvořák International Singing Competition held in Karlovy Vary, came in first at the Pietro Antonio Cesti Baroque Opera Competition in Innsbruck, and was awarded the grand prize at the Verbier Festival. She is an internationally acclaimed soloist, a regular guest at the most prestigious concert halls and festivals, and frequently works together with world-renowned stars. The Transylvanian-born mezzo-soprano, Eszter Balogh, graduated in 2014 with a degree in oratorio and lied singing at the Liszt Academy. One of the most sought-after artists in the domestic concert scene, her repertoire is primarily composed of Baroque and classical oratorios. Croatian flutist and oboist, Stjepan Nodilo, is a young representative of international caliber of early music performers. The Purcell Choir, a defining workshop of the period performance in Hungary, was founded by György Vashegyi in 1990 – the choir operates under the conductor’s leadership to this day. Capella Savaria was founded in 1981 in Szombathely. Its artistic director for nearly two decades was Pál Németh, followed by Zsolt Kalló in 1999. The concert’s conductor, György Vashegyi, has been a central figure in the Hungarian early music movement for decades, as a choral and orchestral conductor, educator, and musicologist.