London Handel merger, or acquisition
NewsThe London Handel Festival has appoint Arcangelo as its first-ever Principal Ensemble in Residence.
Jonathan Cohen will join as Artistic Adviser, working alongside Festival Director, Gregory Batsleer.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Chair, Arcangelo, said: ‘This is a great moment: Handel’s powerful music is ever more central to our cultural lives, and it is ideal that two organisations with such a commitment to musical excellence are now coming together. Arcangelo looks forward to working with the London Handel Festival as we take Handel’s music to increasingly wide audiences.’
What exactly does that headline mean?
It just means Arcangelo will handel the music, and Greg and Jonathon will handel the admin.
Handel operas should be properly staged, Drottningholm style, with elaborate mise-en-scene and machinery befitting a Baroque spectable.
What is confusing about this announcement is that the London Handel Orchestra has in fact been handling the music for several decades, so it is disingenuous at best to call Arcangelo the ‘first ever’ ensemble in residence.
“Baroque spectacle”
And if they can’t do that, then don’t do it at all. No one wants to see Baroque opera littered with eurotrash.
Just how is Handel’s music ‘ever more central to our cultural lives’? Does Kenyon actually think that statement makes sense? I, at least, hear his stuff once and move on; it doesn’t reflect the times we live in or contemporary culture. It’s as dry as desert sand. Maybe that is enough for those that can’t engage with today’s highly-pressured and volatile world.
Bach’s music is dryer.
Wow. How much dislikes. I give you dis too, because you are fool or troll.Think what you say next time. Like it or not, Handel’s music is timeless.
The musicians of the London Handel Orchestra, the majority who have been playing in the festival for many years, may take issue with the description ‘first ever principle ensemble in residence’.
The statement ( by whom?) “The London Handel Festival has appoint (sic) Arcangelo as its first-ever Principal Ensemble in Residence” is simply wrong, or misleading at best. The latter’s capitalisation seems designed to lend the words some spurious ring of authority! The fact is that The London Handel Orchestra has been the ‘de facto’ (Principal) ensemble in residence, ever since Denys Darlow founded the Festival over 40 years ago. The appointment of Arcangelo is a whitewash of the sacking of the London Handel Orchestra from the Festival.