Following critically acclaimed 2018-2019 collaborations, The Brook Street Band again joins forces with conductor John Andrews, continuing its exploration of music by neglected composers in Handel’s England, overshadowed by his all-pervading fame. Lampe’s burlesque comic opera The Dragon of Wantley was a rare exception, popular in the 18th century, but unjustly neglected today.

German-born Lampe, like Handel a fellow immigrant, used critical observations of English society, creating a biting musical and satirical commentary on mid-18th century English life. Lampe’s satire playfully explores mid-18th century ideas of nationalism and identity, as relevant today as in Lampe and Handel’s time.