IRELAND’S BLACK SYREN

As masters of Irish music, Peter Whelan and his Irish Baroque Orchestra provide a rare insight into a fascinating personality from the 18th-century Dublin music scene. Who was Rachel Baptist? Little is known about the 'Celebrated Black Syren', except that she was an Ireland-born soprano of African descent who regularly sang and performed in Dublin, London, Liverpool and other cities alongside the famous castrato Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci. The programme contains works that Baptist may have performed during the "Grand Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Musick" in 1752, including arias by Händel, Pasquali (some premieres), Purcell and some additional instrumental pieces. The "radiant" Rachel Redmond (The New York Times) is the soprano.