American countertenor Reginald Mobley, harpsichordist/director Laurence Cummings and the Academy of Ancient Music explore a different vision of the English Baroque in which the music of Purcell, Handel, and Ignatius Sancho redefined the culture of a nation.

Curated by Reginald Mobley, Sons of England weaves music and words to explore alternative histories of the English Baroque, culminating in a Sancho-inspired new commission by composer Roderick Williams: musical history shaping a shared future.

Baroque England was a nation turned inside-out: a fledgling democracy that could also be profoundly unjust, a culture convinced of its own uniqueness but which welcomed genius from all lands. Tonight, the Academy of Ancient Music explores an era that’s never felt more current.

The music of the London-born Purcell sits alongside masterpieces by Handel – a German who became English by choice, and Ignatius Sancho, who was born into slavery but found freedom and musical success in Georgian England.

The programme will include works by Henry Purcell, Samuel Pepys, GF Handel, MC Festing and Ignatius Sancho, and a new work by Roderick Williams.

We would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Continuo Foundation for their support of this performance.

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A booking fee of 8% will apply to purchases made by telephone or online.

This performances is not likely to be suitable for children under 5 due to the acoustics in the auditorium. Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Programme

John Dowland
'Lachrimæ Antiquae' (from Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares)

Henry Purcell
'Britain, thou art now great' (from Why, why are all the Muses mute?)
'Music for a while' (from Oedipus)
Keyboard Ground in D minor
'Here the deities approve' (from Welcome to all the pleasures)
'Strike the viol' (from Come, Ye Sons of Art)
Chaconne from 'King Arthur'
'O solitude, my sweetest choice'

John Blow
'So ceased the rival crew' (from An Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell)
'We beg not hell, our Orpheus to restore' (from An Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell)
The power of Harmony too well they know (from An Ode on the Death of Mr Henry Purcell)

Thomas Arne
'Sweet muse inspire thy suppliant bard'

Attrib. Cesare Morelli, Samuel Pepys

Go, perjured man! And if thou e'er return
Phoebus God, beloved by men
Beauty retire

Francesco Geminiani
Concerto Grosso in D minor, ‘La Follia’ (after Corelli Op. 5 No. 12)

Jean Baptiste Loeillet
Sonata in A minor for Recorder, Op. 3 No. 4

George Frideric Handel
Keyboard Sonata
'Mi palpita il cor'

Charles Ignatius Sancho (arr. Nico Canzano)
'Suite of Songs and Dances'

Roderick Williams
'From Ignatius Sancho'

08 Laurence Cummings square credit Benjamin Ealovega — Laurence Cummings