Theater of Fate at American Bach Soloists

The American Bach Soloists had a pared down summer festival this year at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, which concluded with a program of Italian secular cantatas by Handel and Vivaldi.

This was the organization's 35th season since its inception by music director Jeffrey Thomas (above right, with harpsichord player Corey Jamason).

The period instrument orchestra seems to be going through a generational change, including the brilliant young violinists Tomà Iliev from Bulgaria and Tatiana Chulochnikova from Ukraine, both of whom attended the American Bach Soloists Academy in recent years.

Tomà Iliev was particularly fun to watch as he partnered with violinist Noah Strick as the two leads in the concert's opening piece, Corelli's 1712 Concerto Grosso in C Minor, Op. 6 No. 3. Iliev is not only good-looking but a ferociously talented musician besides (click here for an ABS interview/demonstration on YouTube).

The Corelli was inserted as a long overture to the main event, Handel's dramatic monologue, Agrippina condotta a morir, written when he was a young man visiting Italy. The 1708 work depicts the Roman empress Agrippina's feelings as she is led to her execution on the orders of her son Nero. In ten recitatives and nine arias, the doomed empress vacillates between curses ("Let his black heart be torn in pieces, and then fed to the birds") to guilt ("How, O God, can I wish for the death of him to whom I gave life?") The piece is a challenging beast for a singer, and soprano Maya Kherani was superb.

The second half of the program was devoted to two Vivaldi pastoral cantatas (Cessate, amai cessate and Amor hai vinto) with mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit as soloist singing about the torture created by love. Coit was astonishingly good, tossing off virtuosic ornamentation with what sounded like effortless ease. The interplay between the orchestra and singer was delightful, and was a reminder of how much fun Vivaldi's vocal music can be.

For a concert finale, the two singers performed the love duet Bramo aver mille vite from Handel's 1735 opera Ariodante. It was a sweet end to a charming concert.