Carolina Baroque, with Music Director Dale Higbee, will complete its 20th season of concerts in Salisbury in the chapel of St. John’s Lutheran Church, 200 W. Innes St., at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
There is no formal charge for admission, but a $10 donation is suggested to help cover the expenses involved.
Carolina Baroque is a member of the Rowan Arts Council and receives some support from both the City of Salisbury and the Rowan County Commissioners, but it is largely dependent on funds received from Friends of Carolina Baroque and donations at the door.
Titled “Baroque Masters: Bach, Handel, Monteverdi and Vivaldi,” the concert will feature vocal works by these four composers.
The program will open with the Toccata and Prologue from Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” (1607), the first great opera. After this will be two songs by Monteverdi, “So sweet is the torment within my breast” and “Alas, I am falling!” Soprano soloists are Mary Mendenhall and Teresa Radomski.
Susan Bates will be featured in a harpsichord solo by Handel, “A Voluntary or a Flight of Angels in C major.” The first half of the concert will conclude with Vivaldi’s Concerto in B flat Major for recorder, violin, strings, and harpsichord, RV 548. Soloists will be Dale Higbee, recorder, and John Pruett, baroque violin.
Following intermission will be two arias from Handel’s most popular opera, “Julius Caesar in Egypt,” which is a boy-meets-girl story about Caesar and Cleopatra.
Baroque opera featured high parts for both hero and heroine. Mary Mendenhall will sing Cleopatra’s part, while Teresa Radomski will portray Julius Caesar. They will also be heard in an aria and duet from the opera “Sosarme.”
Serving as an interlude will be an instrumental work, “Dance of the Good Dreams,” which is a dream sequence at the end of Act 2 of the Opera “Ariodante.”
Concluding the concert will be J. S. Bach’s Concerto in C minor for solo recorder, solo violin, strings and harpsichord, BWV 1060. Performers in addition to those mentioned above are Greg Pannell and Nicolae Soare, baroque violins, Marian Wilson, baroque viola, and Holly Maurer, viola da gamba.
For more information, visit www.carolinabaroque.org.