Rachel Baptist - Ireland’s Black Syren

As champion of music from Ireland, Peter Whelan and his Irish Baroque Orchestra give a rare glimpse into a fascinating figure of the eighteenth-century Dublin music scene. Who was Rachel Baptist? Not much is known of the ‘Celebrated Black Syren’, other than she was a soprano of African descent and born in Ireland, sang regularly in Dublin, London, Liverpool, and other cities, and performed alongside famed castrato Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci. The program includes works that Baptist might have performed at the ‘Grand Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Musick’ held in 1752, including arias by Handel, Pasquali (a couple of premiere recordings), Purcell, and some additional instrumental pieces. The ‘resplendent’ Rachel Redmond (The New York Times) is the soprano.