From the moment the young English tenor James Beard first performed with Handel in 1734, the composer began fashioning roles for him. This led to a new idea – the tenor as Oratorio’s leading man. Until this moment, sopranos and castrati had dominated the operatic stage. As Handel invented and shaped the English Oratorio, and took advantage of John Beard’s special talents, he was able to compose pieces that, to this day, define the elements of this genre, and form a repertoire for the tenor voice of unsurpassed depth and beauty.
Co-GRAMMY winners for Best Opera recording of 2014, conductor Stephen Stubbs and tenor Aaron Sheehan, soon after the presentation of the GRAMMY Award started looking for a concept that could form the basis of a collaboration featuring the solo tenor with Stubbs’ Pacific MusicWorks Orchestra. When they hit upon the extraordinary story of the career of John Beard and his unique relationship with Handel, it was clear that this would make for a glorious concert program. Once the music had been examined to select the most outstanding arias, it became clear that this would also make an ideal debut recording for both Sheehan and the orchestra.
Concert performances of Handel’s Tenor will be held in Seattle in February 2017. In the same time period the magnificent recording venue near Seattle in the cloister chapel of Bastyr as well as the entire orchestra have been reserved to make this recording. The final, and supremely important element is to guarantee the funding of this project which, at a very reasonable price, will bring a recorded souvenir into being for what is sure to be a musical highpoint in the career of Sheehan and Pacific MusicWorks, and a notable revival of an important aspect of Handel’s works.
As a token of our gratitude...
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Gifts of $25 or more: Receive special acknowledgment for their gift in all Pacific MusicWorks 2016-2017 concert programs.
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Gifts of $100 or more: The above, plus receive a CD signed by Aaron Sheehan and Stephen Stubbs.
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Gifts of $500 or more: Sit in on one recording session for the Handel's Tenor CD!
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