Apollo e Dafne is the greatest of the smaller dramatic works Handel wrote during his youthful years in Italy.  It tells with great panache Ovid’s story of Apollo’s pursuit of the nymph Dafne, mixing virtuosic and heart-rending music. Handel’s vivid use of the orchestra was much-influenced by Corelli, who led orchestras for him in Rome.  The first half of the concert is a tribute to Corelli in the 350th anniversary of his birth, contrasting several of his Op. 6 concerti grossi with a bassoon concerto by Vivaldi, his greatest successor, and the orchestral arrangement of his ‘La Folia’ sonata made by his pupil Francesco Geminiani. 

Claire Tomlin has been appearing at the Suffolk Villages Festival since she was a student, and is now much in demand as a solo in consort singer in such groups as The Monteverdi Choir and Ex Cathedra.  Eamonn Dougan is one of Britain’s most sought-after young baritones.  He took the role of Adonis in Blow’s Venus and Adonis during the 2002 Festival.