Synopsis

A celebratory prom honors four pivotal composers whose anniversaries fall across the year: Purcell, Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, led by Sir Roger Norrington, performs Purcell’s Abdelazar Suite, featuring a theme later employed by Britten in his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The program also includes Handel’s enduringly beloved Water Music, Haydn’s dramatic concert aria Scena di Berenice, with Joyce DiDonato as the anguished lover, and Mendel