WHEN IN ROME
Music by A. Scarlatti, Corelli, & Handel

Handel's arrival in Rome in 1706 had a profound influence on his development as a composer, igniting one of the most creative periods of his career. In Rome, Handel rubbed shoulders with the greatest musicians of the age while basking in the luxuries, excesses, and patronage of the clerical aristocracy. When in Rome brings together seductive and euphoric music of this time and place.

THE PROGRAM 

Arcangelo Corelli  
Concerto Grosso in D Major Op. 6 no. 1  

Alessandro Scarlatti  
Cantata: Dall’oscura magion dell’arsa Dite. H 173 (L’Orfeo)  
Soloist: Clara Rottsolk, soprano

G.F. Handel  
Oboe concerto in g minor HWV 287
Soloist: Kathryn Montoya, oboe

G.F. Handel  
Il Delirio amoroso HWV 99  
Soloist: Clara Rottsolk, soprano 

DATES & VENUES

Saturday, October 25, 2025, 7:00 p.m.
The Conrad Performing Arts Center
7600 Fay Ave, La Jolla, CA 92037

Sunday, October 26, 2025, 4:00 p.m.
All Souls' Episcopal Church
1475 Catalina Blvd, San Diego, CA 92107

EVENT DURATION
1 hour 55 minutes with intermission

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THIS CONCERT

• In 1707 during the premiere of Handel's first oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno Corelli, as a member of Handel’s orchestra, refused to play a high note in the overture. Handel subsequently took Corelli's violin and played the note himself, demonstrating his skill and unabashed youthful confidence.  

• Alessandro Scarlatti wrote more than a hundred operas and over 600 cantatas, a considerable amount of church music, and a smaller number of instrumental works. His cantata Dall’oscura magion dell’arsa Dite is a passionate account of the Orpheus myth, a myth central to the symbolic representation and power of music.  

• In Rome, Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni was a prominent patron of Handel. He was a wealthy and influential figure, the great-nephew of Pope Alexander VIII, and a key figure in the Arcadian Academy, an organization dedicated to the arts.