Past Concerts
Devon Baroque Concerts 2025
2025 is 25th Anniversary of Devon Baroque.
Devon Baroque are proud to present the final Gala Concert in its 25th Anniversary series of English Music:
Sunday 28th September, Dartington Hall, Totnes, 3pm.
‘THE ENGLISH GENIUS’
with Russell Gilmour & Katie McClaughry (trumpets) and Rebecca Ramsey (soprano), directed by Persephone Gibbs (violin) and Andrew Wilson-Dickson (harpsichord).
G.F. Handel: Mr Handel’s Water Piece (arrangement of ‘Water Music’)
The secular genius of Henry Purcell:
Sweeter than Rose (from Pausanius)
St George (from King Arthur)
The Plaint (from The Fairy Queen)
Genius of England (from Don Quixote)
Entrance of Night (from The Fairy Queen)
Chaconne (from Dido and Aeneas)
Daniel Purcell: Symphony to The Judgement of Paris
The 18th century, the well-known and the lesser known:
Handel: Gentle Morpheus (from Alceste)
William Corbett: Suite in D for trumpets and strings
Charles Avison: Concerto Grosso in C minor, op 4 no 8
Handel: Let the bright Seraphim (from Samson)
Supported by Exeter and District Classical Music Trust
Sunday July 6th 2025 – St John’s Church, Bridgetown, Totnes, 4pm
Foreigners in London
We are thrilled to welcome back virtuoso recorder player James Risdon, and cellist Christopher Suckling for this concert that explores some of the music written by composers from all over Europe who made London their home, starting, of course, with Mr Handel.
Programme:
Handel: Concerto in G minor for recorder (HWV 287)
James Paisible: Incidental music for The Humour of Sir John Falstaff
Nicola Matteis: Diversi Bizarrie and other pieces
Corelli: Concerto Grosso op. 5 no. 4 in F (arr. Geminiani)
Francesco Geminiani: Cello Sonata in C major
Giuseppe Sammartini: Concerto in F major for recorder and strings
Sunday 23rd February 2025 – St John’s Church, Totnes, 4pm
‘Music from the English Provinces’
Besides starting in London with a Handel Concerto Grosso, we will be visiting Coventry, Birmingham , Durham and Newcastle with some exciting music. The concert will include solo concertos as well as ensemble works for the orchestra.
Devon Baroque Concerts 2024
Sunday 8th December 2024 – Exeter Cathedral, EX1 1HS, 2.30pm
Handel: Messiah, with Exeter Cathedral Choir
The first known performance in Exeter devoted solely to selections from Messiah was given in Easter week 1777, directed (probably from the harpsichord) by the cathedral organist Richard Langdon in the hotel assembly room. It was not until 70 years later, in 1847, that the work was first performed in Exeter in its entirety by the Exeter Oratorio Society, conducted by Exeter violinist Michael Rice. The demand for tickets (top price 4 shillings) was so great that some offered a guinea each (i.e. about £70 today) to get admitted. The annual Christmastide performance of Handel’s best-loved masterpiece with the Choir of Exeter Cathedral is always popular, so book early!
Saturday 22nd June 2024 – St John’s Church, Bridgetown Court, Totnes, TQ9 5AB, 7.30pm
MUSIC FOR MIDSUMMER: Birds, Beasts and Flowers
Devon Baroque Chamber Ensemble
Rebecca Ramsey (soprano) and Sarah Humphrys (recorder, oboe) with
Persephone Gibbs and Sharon Lindo (violins), Gabriel Amherst (cello), Andew Wilson-Dickson (harpsichord).
The programme will include works by Handel, Pepusch, Biber, James Oswald and William Jackson of Exeter.
Devon Baroque loves playing the classics of the Baroque era, pieces that were rediscovered in the 20th century and whose names that are now ubiquitous: JS Bach, Vivaldi, Albinoni, Scarlatti, Couperin. But to get a view of what the 18th-century English enjoyed, we need to turn our attention to composers who might now be considered minor figures, but nonetheless colourful and characteristic of their time.
This Midsummer concert casts light on these hidden corners of British music-making, using just five of the core members of Devon Baroque, with guest soprano Rebecca Ramsey. The one composer equally known to us today as he was in the 18th century is George Frederick Handel. A concert of British Baroque music without Handel is unthinkable, so here we make no apology for including his music at several points, nonetheless some of it less well known today. Thus the programme will open with his Sinfonia in B flat, a fully-fledged pre-cursor of the ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’. Then, scattered through the concert Rebecca sings Handel arias (among them, from L’allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato and Acis and Galatea). Interlacing these are pieces by musicians from London (William Williams, Johann Pepusch), Edinburgh (James Oswald) and Exeter (William Jackson).
Alongside this British music is the celebration of Nature: music evoking birdsong (Handel, Williams) and inspired by plants (Oswald). Most striking of all is music entirely unknown to the British of his time, by Biber, the virtuoso violinist from Salzburg who, in his unique Sonata Representativa, conjures up, among others: a frog, a quail, hen and cat!
Devon Baroque Concerts 2023
Saturday 23rd September 2023, 7.30pm at St Peter’s Church, Tiverton and
Sunday 24 September 2023, 3pm at Dartington Hall
‘Concerto Heaven with Virtuoso Flutes’
Handel: Concerto Grosso in G for strings and German flute, op. 3 no. 3 in G (HWV 314)
Pierre Prowo: Trio sonata in C minor for recorder, flute and continuo
CPE Bach: Concerto for flute and strings in D minor (Wq 22)
Vivaldi: Chamber Concerto in D for flute, violin and continuo (RV 84)
Albinoni: Concerto for strings in G minor op. 10 no. 2
Telemann: Concerto for recorder and flute in E minor (TWV 52:e1)
A concert where the strings of Devon Baroque are joined by two outstanding soloists, Rachel Brown (baroque flute) and James Risdon (recorder), who offer their favourite concertos, joining forces for the riotous Telemann duo concerto.
The short work by Prowo, a contemporary of Bach and Telemann in Germany, will be unknown, we suspect, to many of our audience.
Summer concert: Saturday 17th June, St Mary’s Church, Totnes, 7.30pm
Seasons and Windmills
Solo violin: Persephone Gibbs
Handel: Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 5 in D
Telemann: Burlesque ‘Don Quixotte’ (TVW55:G10)
Vivaldi: ‘The Four Seasons’
Persephone Gibbs plays all four of Vivaldi’s programmatic concertos, ‘The Four Seasons’, together with Telemann’s burlesque suite describing the antics of Don Quixote and a concerto by Handel.
Sunday 26 February 2023, 3pm Dartington Hall
The Italian Muse
Rebecca Ramsey (soprano)
Corelli: Concerto Grosso op.6 no.7 in D
Albinoni: Sonata op.2 no.11 in G minor
A. Scarlatti: Cantata ‘Nel silentio commune’
Geminiani: Concerto Grosso op.2 no.2 in A minor
Valentini: Concerto Grosso op.7 no.11 in A minor
Vivaldi: Motet ‘Nulla in mundo pax sincera’
An exciting concert featuring some of the Italian ‘greats’ with two works for soprano and strings by Scarlatti and Vivaldi
Devon Baroque Concerts 2022
Sunday 4th December, 2-30pm
Exeter Cathedral (doors open 1.45pm)
Handel: Messiah
Exeter Cathedral Choir join forces with Devon Baroque for their seasonal performance of Handel’s masterpiece.
Tickets £25, £20, £15 from Exeter Cathedral
Book before 31st October for 10% discount.
Sunday 20 November, St Peter’s Church, Tiverton, EX16 6NU, 4pm
‘Seasons and Windmills’
Solo violin: Persephone Gibbs
Handel: Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 5 in D
Telemann: Burlesque ‘Don Quixotte’ (TVW55:G10)
Vivaldi: ‘The Four Seasons’
A exciting programme including the riotous burlesque for strings, the eight movements describing Don Quixote’s riotous adventures, with Vivaldi’s ever popular suite of four concertos.
Sunday 11th September, 3.00pm, Dartington Hall
An Astronomical Concert
A concert celebrating 200 years since the death of the astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822), with a talk by Dr Matthew Spring.
Handel: Concerto for oboe and strings, HWV 302a
William Lawes: Fantasy ‘Sunrise’ (from Consort Set no. 8 in F)
Lully: Ballets des Sept Planètes
Herschel: Oboe Concerto no. 1 in E flat (solo oboe: Geoff Coates)
Herschel: Symphony no. 8 in C minor
‘The Music of the Spheres’ – a talk by Dr Matthew Spring
J.S. Bach: Concerto for Violin and Oboe, BWV 1060
This concert is supported by the Exeter & District Classical Music Trust.
Sunday 20th February, Dartington Hall, 3pm
Classic Baroque!
Purcell: Suite from ‘Abdelazar’
Corelli arr. Geminiani: Variations on ‘La Folia’
Muffat: ‘Delirium Amoris’ (1701) Ballo from Exquisitioris harmoniae
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no 3 in G
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in A minor, RV 359 (from L’estro Armonico)
Handel: Concerto Grosso op 6 no 11 in A
Saturday 25 June, 7.30pm, The Mint Methodist Church, Exeter EX4 3AT
TO THE PROMISED LAND: Handel’s ‘ISRAEL IN EGYPT’
Exeter Festival Chorus with Devon Baroque and soloists from the Welsh College of Music and Drama.
One of the most dramatic of Handel’s oratorios, it tells the powerful story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Devon Baroque Concerts 2021
Saturday 11th September at Wellhayes Vineyard, nr. Tiverton at 7.30pm
TRIOS FOR FOUR
Leclair L’Ainé : ‘Ouvertura en trio’ no 3 in A
Geminiani : Sonata in C for ‘cello and keyboard
Telemann: Lilliput Duos from ‘Der getreue Musikmeister’
Bach JS: Variations on a theme by Goldberg (selections)
C P E Bach : Trio in C minor: Melancholy and Sanguine
Biber : Sonata Representativa for violin and continuo
J G Goldberg : Trio Sonata in C (attrib. J S Bach)
Violins: Persephone Gibbs, Sharon Lindo
‘Cello: Gay Amherst, Harpsichord: Andrew Wilson-Dickson
Devon Baroque Concerts – 2020
Sunday 16 February 2020 at Dartington Hall, 3pm
20th Anniversary Concert
Handel: Concerto Grosso op. 6 no. 7 in B flat
Vivaldi Concerto for 4 violins in E minor, RV 550
Valentini: Concerto Grosso op. 7 no. 11 in A minor
Vivaldi: Sinfonia in G minor, RV 157
Telemann: Concerto for 3 violins in F, TWV 53:F1
Bach: Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041
(soloist Persephone Gibbs)
Devon Baroque Concerts – 2019
Sunday 8 December, Exeter Cathedral
Handel: Messiah
with Exeter Cathedral Choir, conductor Timothy Noon
Sunday 10 November, Dartington Hall
Malady and the Power of Music
Rebel: Ballet suite ‘Les Elemens’
Handel: Concerto Grosso op.3 no.2 in Bb
CPE Bach: Trio Sonata ‘Sanguineus et Melancholicus’
Zelenka: Overture Hypochondria
Charpentier: Suite from ‘La Malade Imaginaire’
Friday 28th June, Exeter Cathedral
A Midsummer Musical Celebration with the Cathedral Choir
Handel: Zadok The Priest
Bach: Cantata no. 194
Handel: Organ concerto op.4 no.4 in F
Vivaldi: Gloria RV 589
Sunday 16 June, Crediton Parish Church
Vibrant Violas
Schmelzer: Sonata in C a6
Bertali: Sonata in D minor a6
Bertali: Sonata no. 3 in A minor
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 6
Sun 3rd February, Dartington Hall
Buzzing Baroque – from B to Z
Rameau: Overture to Pigmalion
Hasse: Concerto in F from op. 4
JC Bach: Sinfonia Concertante in A
Zelenka: Overture a7 in F
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 1
Devon Baroque Concerts – 2018
Sunday 2nd December 2018
A Baroque Christmas
with Welsh Camerata, directed by Andrew Wilson-Dickson
Corelli: Christmas Concerto op.6 no.8
Charpentier: In Nativitatem
Buxtehude: Das neugeborne Kinderlein, In Dulce Jubilo
Bach: Cantata 61 (Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland)
Sunday 9th December 2018, Exeter Cathedral
Handel: Messiah
with Exeter Cathedral Choir, conductor Timothy Noon
Saturday 13th October, Dartington Hall
Logic and Beauty
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 5
Bach: Violin Concerto in E
Bach: Suite no. 2 in B minor for flute and strings
Bach: Concerto in A minor for flute, violin & harpsichord
Sunday 27th May, St Mary’s Church, Totnes
Bach’s Family and Friends
JB Bach: Overture-suite in D
Telemann: Concerto Polonois
JG Goldberg: Trio sonata in C
Pachelbel: Suite in G for harpsichord
CPE Bach: Trio sonata ‘Sanguineus et Melancholicus’
JC Bach: Harpsichord Concerto op. 1 no. 4
JS Bach: Ricercare a6 from The Musical Offering
Sunday 18th February, Dartington Hall
Strings on Speed
Purcell: Incidental music from The Fairy Queen
Telemann: Concerto for 4 violins in G
Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 violins in A minor RV 356
Telemann: Gulliver Suite
Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 cellos in G minor RV 531
Vivaldi Concerto for 4 violins in B minor RV 580
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 3
Devon Baroque Concerts – 2017
Sunday 12th February, Dartington Hall
Prevailing Winds
Vivaldi: Concerto in D minor for 2 oboes RV535
Vivaldi: Concerto in G minor for flute and bassoon (La notte)
Boismortier: Concerto a 5, op.37 in G; ‘Premier Balet de Village’
Telemann: Concerto in E minor for flute and recorder
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4
Sunday 29th October, Dartington Hall
Musical Battles and the Trumpet, naturally …..
Russell Gilmour (natural trumpet)
Andrea Falconieri: Battalia de Barabaso yerno Satanas
Telemann: Overture-suite Don Quixote
Fasch: Quadro Sonata in Bb
Torelli : Concerto for Trumpet in D
Biber: Battaglia à 10
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Sunday 10th December, Exeter Cathedral
Handel: Messiah