First performed in 1718 at Cannons, the Edgware home of the composer’s patron, the Duke of Chandos, Esther (HWV 50a) is generally agreed to be the first English oratorio. It was a work Handel returned to more than once, including in 1732, when it became the first in a long series of oratorios he offered to the public in his later years.

The body of musicians of Handel’s earlier employer, James Brydges, was more modest, and this early version suits Solomon’s Knot’s chamber performance style perfectly. 10 singers will deliver the work by heart, together with 18 instrumentalists, in a dramatised concert performance.

Zoë Brookshaw — soprano (as Esther)
Clare Lloyd-Griffiths — soprano (as Israelite boy)
Kate Symonds-Joy — soprano (as Priest of the Israelites)
James Hall — countertenor (as Priest of the Israelites)
Joseph Doody — tenor (as Mordecai)
Xavier Hetherington — tenor (as Ahasuerus)
David de Winter — tenor (as Habdonah, Officer, 2nd Israelite)
Thomas Herford — tenor (as 1st Israelite)
Alex Ashworth — bass-baritone (as Haman)