"I am very much looking forward to reprising the role of Apollo (presented by Emmanuel Music at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival in 2015). It is always great to come back to a role on more than one occasion...revisiting the character and seeing what surprises come about in subsequent performances.  Performing "off book" (memorized) is very liberating because unlike in cantata and oratorio performance, I get to enter the theatrical realm which I find exciting. 

What intrigues me also is that the character of Apollo last season's Phoebus and Pan of Bach - Phoebus is another name for Apollo - is so different than in Handel's representation that we're presenting this season. For me this Apollo does have an emotional journey - an arc of sorts. He is not the classically staid, aristocratic deity which we saw in

Phoebus. In this opera we witness w hat in my mind is a coming of age for Apollo.  He moves from being the brash young warrior-prince, so sure of his prowess in battle, and as a lover, to a becoming a somewhat more sensitive, even wiser being who learns - only after Daphne's m etamorphosis - that selfish des ire and rash actions do have consequences."