Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists: Handel's Theodora

The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists bring Handel's Theodora to the Schwarzman Centre on Wednesday 18 November, with Christophe Rousset conducting. It's a staged performance, not just a concert, so you'll see the story played out on stage rather than just hearing it. The production is directed by Thomas Guthrie, who takes the theatre straight from Handel's score, treating the recitative as dramatic prose and using gesture and movement to bring out the characters.

Theodora was written in 1749 and has since become one of the most celebrated choral works of the 18th century. It's a powerful vision of utopia set in Roman-occupied Antioch, where a Christian martyr defies the empire in the name of faith and freedom. The cast features Marie Lys as Theodora, Iestyn Davies as Didymus, Alice Coote as Irene, Guy Cutting as Septimius, John Chest as Valens, and Jonathan Hanley as the Messenger.

The Monteverdi Choir, founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, has put out over 150 recordings and won numerous prizes; it was named 'Best Choir' at the 2024 Oper! Awards and performed at the 2023 Coronation of HM The King. This is a continuation of their partnership with Christophe Rousset, following a recent Messiah collaboration that The Arts Desk called a 'thrilling performance' and The Daily Telegraph described as 'revelatory'. Rousset has compared leading the MCO to 'driving a Ferrari'. A recording of this production is to be released by harmonia mundi and SDG.

The performance is at the Sohmen Concert Hall within the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter on Woodstock Road (OX2 6GG). It starts at 19:00 and runs for three hours including an interval.