This concert is a celebration of the restoration of a painting in the Collection by the artist Carle Vanloo, The Grand Turk giving a concert to his mistress, c.1737, features a soprano singing an aria by Handel from his opera Admeto (1727).  

In 1733 Vanloo married the celebrated opera singer, Christina Antonia Somis (1704-1785), and she featured as the singer is this painting. Christina was the daughter of the celebrated violinist, Giovanni Battista Somis (1686-1763), who flourished in Turin. Somis had studied under the great Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) and had a number of important students of his own including Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) and Jean-Pierre Guignon (1704-1774).  

This programme will feature Handel arias, including the one depicted in the painting, sung by the exciting young soprano, Sofia Kirwan-Baez, as well as solo works by Somis, Leclair and Guignon performed by The London Handel Players directed from the violin by Adrian Butterfield.