Handel and the New Society

In 1738, moved by the plight of colleagues both infirm and impoverished, London's foremost musicians came forward to establish a new society – the Fund for Decay'd Musicians, known today as the UK's oldest musical charity, The Royal Society of Musicians. Spiritato returns to the York Early Music Christmas Festival with a programme of glorious overtures, rarely heard jewels and Giuseppe Sammartini's richly scored Christmas Concerto, combined in tribute to a unique and enduring charitable vision and the remarkable musicians that created it.