Irish Baroque Orchestra

Directed by Peter Whelan
Hugh Cutting, countertenor

Join us for a different take on the traditional St. Patrick’s Day experience with music from the Olivier Award-winning Irish Baroque Orchestra, Ireland's flagship period instrument ensemble.

The Trials of Tenducci celebrates an 18th-century period of extraordinary European music, telling the story of Giusto Tenducci, a celebrated Italian castrato who took Dublin by storm in 1765, with works from Mozart, Gluck, J.C. Bach, JC Fisher, Giordani, and Arne.

The orchestra is joined by countertenor Hugh Cutting for this captivating program.

About the Orchestra

The Irish Baroque Orchestra blends scholarship and musical excellence in a unique way, creating an original offering like no other on the Irish classical music scene. Through this integration of research and practice, the very idea of an orchestra is defined afresh, providing an unusual and enriching experience for today’s audiences.

The orchestra is led by Artistic Director Peter Whelan, an acclaimed solo artist with an extensive and award-winning discography as a solo bassoonist, who is also among the most dynamic and versatile exponents of historical performance of his generation. As a conductor, Whelan has a particular passion for exploring and championing neglected music from the Baroque and Classical eras. 

As an ambassador for the stories of Ireland’s musical past, the Irish Baroque Orchestra uses its unique perspective to develop the growing store of knowledge surrounding the very early days of baroque and classical music in Ireland. Its research, recordings, and performances offer audiences an opportunity to engage the Irish diaspora through the increasing global reach of this work. 

Storytelling sits at the heart of the ensemble’s Irish heritage recording cycle on Linn Records, which spotlights the interesting characters and extraordinary music from an Ireland of old. This cycle includes Welcome Home Mr. Dubourg (2019), The Trials of Tenducci with Tara Erraught (2021), The Hibernian Muse with Sestina (2022), and Mr. Charles the Hungarian (2023). Future recordings include a program celebrating Rachel Baptist, the famed soprano from 1760s Ireland, and an ambitious reconstruction of Handel’s 1742 Dublin Messiah. 

In February 2022 the orchestra made its debut to critical acclaim at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, with Vivaldi's Bajazet, a co-production from Irish National Opera and the Royal Opera House. The excellence of this work on Bajazet, with artistic director Peter Whelan, was recognized in April 2022 with an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. A critically-acclaimed return to the Linbury Theatre took place in 2024, with Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade, as well as international engagements at St. Martin in the Fields, London, and the Concertgebouw in Bruges for the MA Festival 2024.  

In Ireland, the Irish Baroque Orchestra continues to work in partnership with a number of organizations to bring excellent artistic experiences to audiences around the country and is committed to developing the national scene for historically informed performance and works to ensure its continued growth for future generations.

The Irish Baroque Orchestra is generously funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. It also receives financial support from Culture Ireland to support an expanding international profile, and Dublin City Council for Dublin HandelFest. The orchestra has its own collection of period instruments, purchased with the assistance of an Arts Council capital grant and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The orchestra is resident at the National Concert Hall, Dublin and as of 2021 is an ensemble and board member of the Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne (European Early Music Network).

Hugh Cutting, countertenor

A former choral scholar at St. John’s College, Cambridge, British countertenor Hugh Cutting is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, where he was a member of the International Opera Studio. On graduating, he was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal, presented by King Charles III. In 2021 he became both the first countertenor to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the first to be named a BBC New Generation Artist (2022–2024).

In the 2024-2025 season, Cutting made several major international opera debuts: La Scala, Milan as Corindo in Cesti’s Orontea, in the United States singing the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Dallas Opera, and in Australia as Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare with Pinchgut Opera. He will also appear at the Garsington Festival as Unulfo in Handel’s Rodelinda.

Concerts last season included Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover and Bernard Labadie, Messiah with the Tonkunstler Orchestra and Ivor Bolton, St. Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Jonathan Cohen, and Bach's solo Cantatas with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie in Quebec City and Montreal. In the 2025-2026 season, Cutting curates a residency at Wigmore Hall.

Cutting's first professional season (2022-2023) included his debut at Opernhaus Zürich in works by Monteverdi; Arsace (Partenope) on a European tour with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants; his Wigmore Hall debut; and his U.S. concert debut singing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Carnegie Hall with Bernard Labadie and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

This is the first performance at the center for Irish Baroque Orchestra and Cutting.

Photos by Pawel Bebenca, Marco Borggreve, and Olivia de Costa