Paradise Toss’d
Heavenly Queens, Earthly Crowns, and the Smoldering Embers of Rule
Music of Handel, Kapsberger, Monteverdi, Rigatti, Rossi, Stradella, and Strozzi
Camerata San Luca
Jessica Gould, soprano
Gonzalo Ruiz, oboe
Alexandra Calabro, violin I
Claire Smith Bermingham, violin Il
Christopher Morrongiello, baroque guitar & lute
Jason Priset, theorbo
Adam Young, viola da gamba
Robert Warner, harpsichord
Heaven and Earth go back to back as two Marian
Anthems frame a trio of tortured queens. Arias of
Stradella’s conflicted Ester, Monteverdi’s dejected
Ottavia, and Handel’s scheming Agrippina trace an
arc from doubt to misery to bloodthirsty ambition,
as two prayers to the Queen of Heaven flip from
calm to turbulence on either side.
Opening with a courtly homage and concluding
with an impassioned plea, the throne is more prison
than prize in this concert devoted to monarchs on
the verge.
