Handel Fesitval coming to Princeton University

   The American Handel Society and the Princeton University Music Department will present the 2007 American Handel Festival and Meeting of the American Handel Society at the university from Thursday, April 19, through Saturday, April 21.
   This year’s festival features three concerts of Handel’s music including a concert of opera arias and instrumental works with the the university’s Richardson Baroque Players on April 19, an organ recital in the University Chapel with organist Eric Plutz on April 20 and a performance of Handel’s rarely performed oratorio "Hercules" (1745) with mezzo-soprano Deanne Meek in the role of Dejanira. "Hercules" will be performed with the University Glee Club conducted by Richard Tang Yuk on April 21.
   The conference portion of the festival includes an international and interdisciplinary roster of scholars who will consider a variety of issues concerning the music of Handel and his contemporaries, including Handel and Judaism, music, myth and allegory, the reception of Handel, performance practice, Handel’s instrumental music, vocalism, heroism and masculinity. The Howard Serwer Memorial Lecture will be given by the renowned music critic Andrew Porter.
   David Ross Hurley, editor of the forthcoming edition of "Hercules" for the Hallische Handel-Ausgabe and professor of music at Pittsburgh State University will give a pre-concert talk, "The Characters in Handel’s ‘Hercules,’" at Richardson Auditorium at 7 p.m., before the performance of "Hercules" at 8 p.m.
   The festival will also feature a special exhibition of the James S. Hall Collection of Handel Manuscripts housed at the Firestone Library and mounted by music librarian Paula Matthews.
   This year’s festival is organized by Wendy Heller, associate professor of music at Princeton University and member of the board of the American Handel Society.
   The American Handel Festival was founded in 1986 by Howard Serwer, Paul Traver and J. Merrill Knapp and is governed by a board of prominent American scholars specializing in the music of Handel and his contemporaries. The American Handel Society seeks to foster study of the life, works and times of George Frideric Handel, and to encourage and support the performance of his music.
   The American Handel Society also offers a fellowship named in the memory of former Princeton Professor J. Merrill Knapp for advanced graduate students or scholars in the early stages of their careers to support work in Handel studies or related fields.
   For information on the Handel Festival, visit http://silvertone.princeton.edu/Handelfestival/.