Händel_remixed

Händel_remixed__virtuoso, profound arias in a new sound

Under the title HÄNDEL_remixed, we, Hannah Beutler_soprano and Mats Scheidegger_guitars, are planning a world premiere recording of works by George Frideric Handel in new arrangements as the duo formation tHEARToftheduo. We are writing new arrangements of the most beautiful arias for soprano, various guitars and electronics. In collaboration with the label Schweizer Fonogramm, the studio recording will be released in 2026: physically as a high-quality CD book and in digital high resolution for download. We are planning the release concert at the Helferei Zurich. The recording project is intended to make Handel’s music audible worldwide in a new, contemporary sound, based on the technique of re-mixing and historical editing.

Händel's arias from his London operas

Handel’s time in London was characterized by baroque theatrical frenzy, but also by financial disasters and difficult dealings with the divas of the opera world of the time. Handel himself was not only a composer, but also took over the management, organization and fundraising for his works after his theater went bankrupt ( -> our role model :-) )

Handel wrote a total of 35 operas and numerous oratorios in London. In contrast to his classmate Bach, Handel’s music is entirely dedicated to the performance, to the audience. His music is characterized by a variety of genres, melodic inventions and, above all, his ability to express emotion through music. By experimenting with various historical instruments, he gave his music a special timbre that is characterized by fluidity, lightness, elegance and psychological depth. The music is never music for music’s sake: no, it wants to convey something and, above all, entertain. It comes directly from lively music-making and is directed entirely at the audience. This vitality is still unbroken today.

I need support for this

The young Swiss soprano Hannah Beutler, currently a permanent soloist at Theater Koblenz, has acquired, played and sung a large repertoire of Handel operas in recent years.

Mats Scheidegger has studied Handel’s music extensively and has made several arrangements for past projects. Guitarist Mats Scheidegger has a wide range of instruments at his disposal, including classical and electric guitar, electric 8-string guitar and steel-string guitar. In addition, there are various effects, electronics and amplifiers: a multitude of tonal and dynamic possibilities. This allows many variations to explore Handel’s music in all its sonorities. The flow and character of the music is the decisive yardstick.

Thanks to his close collaboration with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Brian Ferneyhough, Beat Furrer, Mario Davidovsky and Bernhard Lang, it is an exciting task for Mats Scheidegger to transfer the relationship between composer and work to the baroque composer Handel: accompanied by Hannah Beutler, in a mutual exchange and in the exploration of unexpected new colors, tHEARToftheduo orchestrates the music from the first half of the 18th century in a new, modern, contemporary way and yet closely following the original.

We need additional support for the science-based exploration of the manuscripts, for the arrangements and the rehearsal of the album program. We are also grateful for financial support for the sustainable CD book, which does not use plastic.