Enjoy an evening concert of baroque delights with the Nocturnalia Ensemble.

The Foundling Museum is delighted to welcome the Nocturnalia Ensemble to the Picture Gallery for an enchanting evening recital, which celebrates the women contemporary to Handel.

Nocturnalia Ensemble is composed of three young performers on violin, cello/gamba, and historical keyboards. They believe that baroque music is tremendously contemporary, and look to offer fresh concerts to audiences that celebrate the freedom and unique creativity of 17th and 18th-century compositions.

Embark with Nocturnalia on a travel through time and music, following Handel's own journeys and bringing to the foreground some of the outstanding women artists and patronesses related to him.

You will listen to some extraordinary pieces by Handel himself, of course, but also discover Isabella Leonarda, Elisabetta de Gambarini, Giacomo Antonio Perti, Georg Philipp Telemann and Francesco Geminiani...

Programme

Musical Contexts: Sonata Forms
Isabella Leonarda: Sonata Duodecima a violino solo e organo
G.P. Telemann: Trio Sonata for violin, cello and B.C. in G Major, TWV 42:G7

Handel in Rome: A Pastoral Salon
G.A. Perti: Sonata for violin and B.C.
Handel: ‘Felicissima quest’alma’ from Apollo e Daphne, HWV 122. (arr. for violin, cello and harpsichord)
Laura’s Lament (composed by Nocturnalia, 2025)
Handel: ‘Se m’ami, o caro’, from Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, HWV 72/14. (arr. for violin, cello and harpsichord)
Handel: Violin sonata in D major, Op.1, No. 13

Handel in London
Handel: Sonata in G minor for violin & B.C., Op.1, No.6
Elisabetta Gambarini: Harpsichord Sonata from Six Sets of Lessons for the Harpsichord, Op.1, London, 1748
Francesco Geminiani: Cello Sonata, H.104, from Sonates pour le Violoncelle et Basse Continue dans lesquelles il a fait une étude particuliere pour l’utilité de ceux qui accompagnent, Op.5, No.2
Elisabetta Gambarini: Andantino, ‘Se dir non lice al mio tesoro’, and ‘Se mai fosse’
Handel: ‘O liberty, thou choicest treasure’, from Judas Maccabaeus, Act 1 (arr. for violin, cello and harpsichord)