Handel’s ‘Esther’

The Lyra Baroque Orchestra, a professional period-instrument ensemble from Minneapolis, will join forces with the Grinnell Singers to perform Handel’s Esther.

The Performance

The concert will start at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 1, in Sebring-Lewis Hall. Although the concert is free and open to the public, tickets are required. Tickets may be picked up at the Bucksbaum Center box office beginning at noon on Monday, Feb. 23. For more information, call the box office at 641-269-4444.

Members of the orchestra will perform on replicas of instruments in use during the 18th century, including a full complement of string instruments, as well as oboes, horns and trumpets. Iowa Public Radio plans to record the performance to be broadcast across the state at a later date.

Handel’s oratorio tells the story of Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia, as she acts courageously to save her people from destruction.

The production will feature guest soloists:

• Linh Kauffman, soprano, as Queen Esther
• Seth Keeton, baritone, as the villain Haman
• Richard Joseph, tenor, as the King of Persia
• Craig Lemming, tenor, as Esther’s Uncle Mordecai
• Nicholas Miguel, baritone, as the Priest of the Israelites

Grinnell College Blanche Johnson Professor of Music John Rommereim will conduct.

The Panel Discussion

The performance will be preceded on Friday, Feb. 20, by a panel discussion titled “Stories Told and Retold: Handel’s Esther and Narratives of Oppression and Genocide from Biblical Times to the Present.”

The discussion will start at 4:15 p.m. in Lawson Lecture Hall, Bucksbaum Center for the Arts Room 152. The panel will include Rommereim as well as:

• Associate Chaplain and Rabbi Robert Cabelli
• Associate Professor of Music Jennifer Williams Brown
• Professor of French David Harrison
• Assistant Professor of Art History Vanessa Lyon

Jacque Ogg, musical director of Lyra Baroque Orchestra will play harpsichord. The orchestra also includes Grinnell Music faculty member Guinevere McIntyre playing on natural horn.

Grinnell welcomes and encourages the participation of people with disabilities. Bucksbaum Center for the Arts has accessible parking in the rear of the building north of Sixth Ave., and Sebring-Lewis Hall is fully accessible. Accommodation requests may be made to Conference Operations.