Boston Baroque rings in the New Year with Handel and Bach

Boston Baroque is ringing in the New Year in true Baroque style on Sunday, December 31 and Monday, January 1 at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, MA. The performances include iterations of Handel's Gloria and Water Music, as well as Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. Cambridge Trust Company is generously sponsoring champagne and chocolate treats at intermission.

Re-discovered in 2001, Handel's Gloria cantata was unknown for over a century as it sat idle in the library of London's Royal Academy of Music. Music scholars now agree that the piece is from Handel's early years in Rome when he was 22 years old.

Joining them onstage will be soprano Mary Wilson, who has a wide-ranging career singing chamber and orchestral music. According to the Dallas Morning News, Wilson’s "bright soprano seems to know no terrors, wrapping itself seductively around every phrase."

Also being performed is Handel's Water Music, a piece written for King George I of Great Britain in the early 1700s. It was first performed on cruise through the Rives Thames in 1717. According to reports, the King loved the piece so much that he requested the musicians play it three times before coming back to shore.

Boston Baroque will close off the afternoon with Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. The piece was written while Bach was working for the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen in the early 1700s. The composition combines elements of older baroque styles, including an overture followed by dance movements, with the then-newer style of alternating between soloist and orchestra.

The Boston Baroque Orchestra will be conducted by Martin Pearlman, who is the founder, music director, and conductor of the orchestra and chorus of the three-time Grammy-nominated Boston Baroque.

Tickets are $25-$90 and can be purchased at bostonbaroque.org or by phone at 617-987- 8600.

Boston Baroque: Handel Gloria and Water Music; Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
Sunday, Dec. 31, 8pm and Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, 3pm
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University 45 Quincy St. Cambridge, MA 02138
Tickets: $25-$90 | bostonbaroque.org
617.987.8600 | info@bostonbaroque.org