Samson

Dulwich Choral Society present Handel's magnificent oratorio Samson conducted by Aidan Oliver.

Our soloists will be Fflur Wyn (soprano), Caitlin Hulcup (mezzo soprano), Rupert Charlesworth (tenor), Benjamin Bevan (baritone) and Tim Dickinson (bass), performing with Musica Poetica on period instruments.

Fflur Wyn has performed with the Welsh National Opera, Opera Holland Park, Opera North and the Royal Opera House, and this spring is singing in Krakow and Goettingen as well as the London Handel Festival.

Caitlin Hulcup is an Australian mezzo-soprano whose opera appearances have taken her from Vienna to Florence, Munich, Moscow and Beijing and who regularly appears in oratorio, concert and lieder recitals.

Rupert Charlesworth's recent engagements have included Glyndebourne Touring, Tel Aviv Opera, Theater an der Wien and the Aix-en-Provence festival, while he also made his Covent Garden debut in the 2016/17 season.

Benjamin Bevan made his international debut in Lausanne and has sung at the Royal Opera House and with Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and the Bach Collegium Japan.

Tim Dickinson started as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, won a choral scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge and has sung with Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera Holland Park and La Nuova Musica at Handel festivals in London and Goettingen.

Our musical director Aidan Oliver is one of the U.K.'s leading choral conductors. As director of Philharmonia Voices he works with the Philharmonia Orchestra on many of their most high-profile projects, including numerous concerts and broadcasts from the Royal Festival Hall. He is in high demand as a guest chorus master, working with groups including the BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Singers, English National Opera and Huddersfield Choral Society, with whom he recently directed a CD of British choral classics.

Handel started writing the work as soon as he had finished the Messiah in 1741 and it was given its premiere at the Covent Garden Theatre in February 1743: its immediate success with the public led to a run of a further seven performances. It was one of Handel's most popular works during his lifetime, and it has remained a firm favourite in the musical canon ever since.

Based on John Milton's poem Samson Agonistes, and the Biblical story recounted in the Book of Judges, the story was adapted by librettist Newburgh Hamilton to give it the dramatic structure appropriate for the oratorio. The story encapsulates Samson's transformation from a defeated Israelite hero, blinded and in chains, to a triumphant leader taking on the worshippers of Dagon.